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An Ode to Insignificance: Buttons, Touchscreens, and Other Dangerous Technologies
From ACM Opinion

An Ode to Insignificance: Buttons, Touchscreens, and Other Dangerous Technologies

"The future is already here—it's just not evenly distributed," is an often-quoted line from the brilliant science-fiction writer William Gibson.

They Survived a School Shooting Only to Wage Battle in Some of the Nastiest Corners of the Internet
From ACM Opinion

They Survived a School Shooting Only to Wage Battle in Some of the Nastiest Corners of the Internet

In person, Sarah Chadwick and Jaclyn Corin are fierce. And young.

How Lies Spread Online
From ACM Opinion

How Lies Spread Online

The spread of misinformation on social media is an alarming phenomenon that scientists have yet to fully understand.

How to Make A.I. Human-Friendly
From ACM Opinion

How to Make A.I. Human-Friendly

For a field that was not well known outside of academia a decade ago, artificial intelligence has grown dizzyingly fast. Tech companies from Silicon Valley to Beijing...

Don't Blame China, Mr. President. Blame the Robots.
From ACM Opinion

Don't Blame China, Mr. President. Blame the Robots.

Mr. President, if you're looking for someone to demonize for killing blue-collar jobs in your favorite industries, don't blame China and "bad trade deals." Blame...

The Sublime and Scary Future of Cameras With A.I. Brains
From ACM Opinion

The Sublime and Scary Future of Cameras With A.I. Brains

Something strange, scary and sublime is happening to cameras, and it's going to complicate everything you knew about pictures. Cameras are getting brains.

Bioengineers Today Emphasize the Crucial Ingredient Dr. Frankenstein Forgot: Responsibility 
From ACM Opinion

Bioengineers Today Emphasize the Crucial Ingredient Dr. Frankenstein Forgot: Responsibility 

Mary Shelley was 20 when she published "Frankenstein" in 1818. Two hundred years on, the book remains thrilling, challenging and relevant—especially for scientists...

Computing With Random Pulses Promises to Simplify Circuitry and Save Power
From ACM Opinion

Computing With Random Pulses Promises to Simplify Circuitry and Save Power

In electronics, the past halfcentury has been a steady march away from analog and toward digital. Telephony, music recording and playback, cameras, and radio and...

A Framework for Building Artificial Intelligence Capabilities
From ACM Opinion

A Framework for Building Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

After decades of promise and hype, artificial intelligence has finally reached a tipping point of market acceptance.

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?
From ACM News

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?

In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to...

Tech Companies Should Stop Pretending AI Won't Destroy Jobs
From ACM Opinion

Tech Companies Should Stop Pretending AI Won't Destroy Jobs

I took an Uber to an artificial-­intelligence conference at MIT one recent morning, and the driver asked me how long it would take for autonomous vehicles to take...

How Trump Conquered Facebook, Without Russian Ads
From ACM Opinion

How Trump Conquered Facebook, Without Russian Ads

It's not every day that a former work colleague gets retweeted by the president of the United States.

How Russia Turned the Internet Against America
From ACM Opinion

How Russia Turned the Internet Against America

The indictment released Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller makes plain how prosecutors believe Russia pursued its multiyear scheme to undermine the 2016 presidential...

2 Years After FBI vs. Apple, Encryption Debate Remains
From ACM News

2 Years After FBI vs. Apple, Encryption Debate Remains

It's been two years since the FBI and Apple got into a giant fight over encryption following the San Bernardino shooting, when the government had the shooter's...

China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious
From ACM Opinion

China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious

For all the particularities of life in China, its big cities offer a familiar cosmopolitanism.

How Technology Can Make Valentine's Day Much, Much Better
From ACM Opinion

How Technology Can Make Valentine's Day Much, Much Better

Every February I agonize over the Valentine's Day Dilemma. How can I show my girlfriend, whom I'll call Emily, how much I love her?

How Snapchat Is Sending #MeToo Down the Memory Hole
From ACM Opinion

How Snapchat Is Sending #MeToo Down the Memory Hole

If you have something personal or private to communicate, you know where to turn.

Blockchain Explained: It Builds Trust When You Need It Most
From ACM Opinion

Blockchain Explained: It Builds Trust When You Need It Most

These days, we're having a harder and harder time trusting each other.

Computational Propaganda: Bots, Targeting, and the Future
From ACM Opinion

Computational Propaganda: Bots, Targeting, and the Future

A long time ago, when I was working on my Ph.D. research, I learned to use supercomputers to track the complex 3-D motions of gas blown into space by dying stars...

Welcome to the Post-Text Future
From ACM Opinion

Welcome to the Post-Text Future

I'll make this short: The thing you're doing now, reading prose on a screen, is going out of fashion.
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