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Fear Artificial Stupidity, Not Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

Fear Artificial Stupidity, Not Artificial Intelligence

It is not often that you are obliged to proclaim a much-loved genius wrong, but in his alarming prediction on artificial intelligence and the future of humankind...

Comet Breakthrough of the Year + People's Choice
From ACM Opinion

Comet Breakthrough of the Year + People's Choice

This year's breakthrough captured the public's imagination with a series of hard-won pictures, beamed to Earth from a place beyond Mars.

Sony Made It Easy, but Any of ­S Could Get Hacked
From ACM Opinion

Sony Made It Easy, but Any of ­S Could Get Hacked

Earlier this month, a mysterious group that calls itself Guardians of Peace hacked into Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer systems and began revealing many...

The Lesson of the Sony Hack: We Should All Jump to the 'erasable Internet'
From ACM Opinion

The Lesson of the Sony Hack: We Should All Jump to the 'erasable Internet'

This month's news provides yet another occasion for a friendly public-service reminder to anyone who uses a digital device to say anything to anyone, ever.

The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists
From ACM Opinion

The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists

The Sony Pictures hack is important, and the Sony Pictures hack is terrifying.

How to Conquer the Galaxy on a Computer
From ACM Opinion

How to Conquer the Galaxy on a Computer

Space is big. Really big. And not just in terms of the mind-boggingly vast distances between the stars and planets out there in the Universe at large.

From Pc to Navy, Ars Pits Casual Flight Sim Skills Against a Real Cockpit Trainer
From ACM Opinion

From Pc to Navy, Ars Pits Casual Flight Sim Skills Against a Real Cockpit Trainer

A little over a year ago, I was lucky enough to take a short ride in a Folland Gnat trainer—a nimble little two-seat jet maintained by Rick Sharpe of Houston's ...

The Future of ­.s. Innovation Might Rest on This Obscure Patent Lawsuit
From ACM Opinion

The Future of ­.s. Innovation Might Rest on This Obscure Patent Lawsuit

Patent trolls: They're a huge suck on the economy, eating up untold millions in legal fees and deliberately suing innocent companies just because they're flush....

Dumbing It Down in the Cockpit
From ACM Opinion

Dumbing It Down in the Cockpit

Long gone are the leather jackets, goggles, and silk scarves flung over the shoulders of aviators who wrestled with flight controls, furiously scanned instruments...

What Are Moocs Good For?
From ACM Opinion

What Are Moocs Good For?

A few years ago, the most enthusiastic advocates of MOOCs believed that these "massive open online courses" stood poised to overturn the century-old model of higher...

Artificial Intelligence Isn't a Threat—Yet
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence Isn't a Threat—Yet

Does artificial intelligence threaten our species, as the cosmologist Stephen Hawking recently suggested?

We Might Be Able to 3-D-Print an Artificial Mind One Day
From ACM Opinion

We Might Be Able to 3-D-Print an Artificial Mind One Day

I'm an artificial-intelligence skeptic.

Why We Need a Federal Agency on Robotics
From ACM Opinion

Why We Need a Federal Agency on Robotics

The robots are no longer coming; they are here. And the law's response has been lacking. What is the best approach for integrating this transformative technology...

Get Your Head Around the 13 Boldest Ideas in Science
From ACM Opinion

Get Your Head Around the 13 Boldest Ideas in Science

Science is full of mind-blowing and counterintuitive concepts.

It's Time to Intelligently Discuss Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

It's Time to Intelligently Discuss Artificial Intelligence

Tesla CEO Elon Musk worries it is "potentially more dangerous than nukes."

Ransomware Is the Future of Consumer Cybercrime
From ACM Opinion

Ransomware Is the Future of Consumer Cybercrime

It's 2020, bitter cold outside, you’re running late for work, and the Linux box that controls your car isn't going to start unless you wire $20 worth of Bitcoin...

Looking to Mars to Help Understand Changing Climates
From ACM Opinion

Looking to Mars to Help Understand Changing Climates

Where now it stands the Plain of Gold did once my river flow.

Baer's Odyssey: Meet the Serial Inventor Who Built the World's First Game Console
From ACM Opinion

Baer's Odyssey: Meet the Serial Inventor Who Built the World's First Game Console

Even if you're a devoted fan of video games, there's a decent chance you're not familiar with the name Ralph H. Baer.

Trends to Watch in 2015: From Algorithmic Accountability to the ­ber of X
From ACM News

Trends to Watch in 2015: From Algorithmic Accountability to the ­ber of X

Year-end technology prediction lists can be dull fodder devoted to pie-in-the-sky concepts, outlandish marketing claims or rehashes of familiar trends.

What Could Be Lost as Einstein's Papers Go Online
From ACM Opinion

What Could Be Lost as Einstein's Papers Go Online

When I heard that Albert Einstein's papers were going to be published free online, I was thrilled—at least initially.
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