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Why Is Our Sci-Fi So Glum About A.i.?
From ACM Opinion

Why Is Our Sci-Fi So Glum About A.i.?

When I was 12, I invented a superhero named Boy Genius, a guy my age who awakens one morning with access to 100 percent of his brain power.

The Magic in Apple's Devices? The Heart
From ACM Opinion

The Magic in Apple's Devices? The Heart

During the last seismic Apple announcement, in 2010, I was at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco as Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, a device he...

Apple's Watch Will Make People and Computers More Intimate
From ACM Opinion

Apple's Watch Will Make People and Computers More Intimate

A fundamental quest of the digital age has been to make our devices more personal.

A ­nified Theory
From ACM Opinion

A ­nified Theory

For the last half-century we've had a popular notion that our intellectual culture is sundered in two—the literary and the scientific.

Police Cameras Can Shed Light, but Raise Privacy Concerns
From ACM Opinion

Police Cameras Can Shed Light, but Raise Privacy Concerns

Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager who was shot during an encounter with police in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, was recorded by a convenience store surveillance camera...

The Future of Robot Caregivers
From ACM Opinion

The Future of Robot Caregivers

Each time I make a house call, I stay much longer than I should.

The Trouble With Brain Science
From ACM Opinion

The Trouble With Brain Science

Are we ever going to figure out how the brain works?

Should Facebook Manipulate ­sers?
From ACM Opinion

Should Facebook Manipulate ­sers?

Should we worry that technology companies can secretly influence our emotions?

The Move Toward Computing That Reads Your Mind
From ACM Opinion

The Move Toward Computing That Reads Your Mind

Like many people in this modern world, I struggle with the tension between the conveniences offered by the latest technology and the loss of privacy that comes...

Is the ­niverse a Simulation?
From ACM Opinion

Is the ­niverse a Simulation?

In Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita," the protagonist, a writer, burns a manuscript in a moment of despair, only to find out later from the Devil...

Welcome to the Age of Denial
From ACM Opinion

Welcome to the Age of Denial

In 1982, polls showed that 44 percent of Americans believed God had created human beings in their present form. Thirty years later, the fraction of the population...

From ACM Opinion

Measuring the Benefits of Tech Tools

When I was a young reporter we could not afford cellphones.

What Makes Google's Maps So Good
From ACM Opinion

What Makes Google's Maps So Good

Wow. Nothing makes you appreciate something like losing it.

From ACM Opinion

Will Cloud Computing Make Everything (and Everyone) Work Harder?

What do the following have in common: Computers, limousines, empty beds and stay-at-home moms? The cloud keeps them busy. The rest of us are next. Virtualization...

From ACM TechNews

Enlist It Tools

Throwing more teams of specialists at intelligence gaps that allowed terror suspects to slip through the net will not solve the problem, write Rensselaer Polytechnic...

From ACM Opinion

Why Google Wants a Faster Internet

There was no lack of, well, buzz about Google's new Buzz social-media platform last week, but more important were a series of moves that suggest the search giant...

The 0s and 1s of Computer Warfare
From ACM Opinion

The 0s and 1s of Computer Warfare

We are already in the Brave New World of cyberwarfare. Cyberattacks have become a permanent fixture on the international scene because they have become easy and...
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