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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.

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.

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.

Search Gives ­s Superpowers
From ACM News

Search Gives ­s Superpowers

Machine learning—an area of AI focusing on systems that "learn" from data in order to navigate future similar scenarios—is one of the ways we’ve managed to give...

The World Cracks Down on the Internet
From ACM Opinion

The World Cracks Down on the Internet

In September of last year, Chinese authorities announced an unorthodox standard to help them decide whether to punish people for posting online comments that are...

Sure, Artificial Intelligence May End Our World, But That Is Not the Main Problem
From ACM Opinion

Sure, Artificial Intelligence May End Our World, But That Is Not the Main Problem

The robots will rise, we're told.

The Princess Trap
From ACM Opinion

The Princess Trap

When my 4-year-old told me the other day that she was "ready for princesses," part of me died.

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition
From ACM Opinion

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition

Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware...

Next Battle in the War on Science
From ACM Opinion

Next Battle in the War on Science

The war over science is heating up on Capitol Hill.

Turing's Spirit Hovers at a Restored Estate
From ACM Opinion

Turing's Spirit Hovers at a Restored Estate

When "Captain Ridley's shooting party" gathered here in late August 1938 as weekend guests at Bletchley Park, a Buckinghamshire country house, they were accompanied...

The Internet That Facebook Built
From Communications of the ACM

The Internet That Facebook Built

The on-ramp might appear free but exiting takes a toll.

The Whole Professional
From Communications of the ACM

The Whole Professional

A new book inspires a reflection on what it means to be a whole, competent, and effective professional — and may portend a wave of disruption in education.

Innovation and Inclusion
From Communications of the ACM

Innovation and Inclusion

What technology companies, especially startups, need to know about building great places to work — for her and him — in the digital age.
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