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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectTheory
authorThe Atlantic
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Online Voting Won't Save Democracy
From ACM Opinion

Online Voting Won't Save Democracy

Technology can do a lot more to make our elections more secure and reliable, and to ensure that participation in the democratic process is available to all.

The Wisdom of Nokia's Dumbphone
From ACM Opinion

The Wisdom of Nokia's Dumbphone

They weighed heavy in pockets and jackets and bags, for they were thick and bulky, not lithe and narrow. 

How Twitter Bots Are Shaping the Election
From ACM Opinion

How Twitter Bots Are Shaping the Election

There is power in numbers, or so the saying goes. But statistics mean different things to different people. Take Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, for instance.

How to Turn Your Self-Driving Car Into a Time Machine
From ACM Opinion

How to Turn Your Self-Driving Car Into a Time Machine

The self-driving car's greatest promise is that it will buy its passengers that most precious and finite of resources: time.

How Electronic Voting Could ­ndermine the Election
From ACM Opinion

How Electronic Voting Could ­ndermine the Election

It's 2016: What possible reason is there to vote on paper? When we use touchscreens to communicate, work, and shop, why can't we use similar technology to vote?

What Happens If Gps Fails?
From ACM Opinion

What Happens If Gps Fails?

In only took thirteen millionths of a second to cause a whole lot of problems.

Will the Constitution Protect Your Next Smartphone?
From ACM Opinion

Will the Constitution Protect Your Next Smartphone?

More than a decade ago, the keynote speaker at a major annual cybersecurity conference strode into the spotlight and predicted the death of the password.

The Privacy Problem with Digital Assistants
From ACM Opinion

The Privacy Problem with Digital Assistants

For the last century, we've imagined a future where we're surrounded by robotic butlers that are classy, smart, and discreet.

The Seven Deadly Social Networks
From ACM Opinion

The Seven Deadly Social Networks

Almost five years ago, in a soliloquy transcribed by The Wall Street Journal, Reid Hoffman suggested a comprehensive theory of social-network success.

Why Technological Innovation Relies on Government Support
From ACM Opinion

Why Technological Innovation Relies on Government Support

Andy Grove, the Silicon Valley pioneer who died last week at age 79, was many things: a survivor of the Nazi occupation of Hungary and refugee of Cold War Eastern...

How Self-Driving Cars Will Threaten Privacy
From ACM Opinion

How Self-Driving Cars Will Threaten Privacy

Allow me to join you, if I may, on your morning commute sometime in the indeterminate future.

Toward the End of Pilots
From ACM Opinion

Toward the End of Pilots

A memory that’s stayed with me from my stint in the military nearly 50 years ago is a sign that my supply sergeant kept on his desk: "We’ve been working with less...

Can Google's Driverless Car Project Survive a Fatal Accident?
From ACM Opinion

Can Google's Driverless Car Project Survive a Fatal Accident?

Everybody knew this day would come.

How to Build an ­nbeatable Poker-Playing Robot
From ACM Opinion

How to Build an ­nbeatable Poker-Playing Robot

Each summer, the computer-science researchers behind the world's best poker-playing robots bring their creations together for a tournament.

Planet Nine May Help ­S Slingshot Our Way to Interstellar Space
From ACM Opinion

Planet Nine May Help ­S Slingshot Our Way to Interstellar Space

In his famous sonnet, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, John Keats describes the moment he first came to appreciate some of the great works of classical antiquity...

How the Internet of Things Limits Consumer Choice
From ACM Opinion

How the Internet of Things Limits Consumer Choice

In theory, the Internet of Things—the connected network of tiny computers inside home appliances, household objects, even clothing—promises to make your life easier...

Driverless Cars Are Like Elevators
From ACM Opinion

Driverless Cars Are Like Elevators

One of the challenges in describing the potential of self-driving cars is that they promise to do so much.

The Room Where the Internet Was Born
From ACM Opinion

The Room Where the Internet Was Born

Starting a cross-country drive to New York in Los Angeles is pretty inconvenient, unless your cross-country drive is also a vision quest to see the Internet.

Scores of Scores: How Companies Are Reducing Consumers to Single Numbers
From ACM Opinion

Scores of Scores: How Companies Are Reducing Consumers to Single Numbers

In his novel Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart imagined ubiquitous poles installed on sidewalks that display people’s credit scores as they walked by.

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy
From ACM Opinion

If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy

I knew we'd bought walnuts at the store that week, and I wanted to add some to my oatmeal.
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