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A.i. Inspiration: The Science Fiction That Frames Discussion
From ACM Opinion

A.i. Inspiration: The Science Fiction That Frames Discussion

Science fiction comes up often in serious discussions about artificial intelligence and weapons.

If They Google You, Do You Win?
From ACM Opinion

If They Google You, Do You Win?

Are voters misleading pollsters? Are there hidden Donald Trump supporters who could throw the election his way?

Mark Zuckerberg's Long March to China
From ACM Opinion

Mark Zuckerberg's Long March to China

For U.S. Internet businesses, China is the land of moral defeat.

Whoever Wins the White House, This Year's Big Loser Is Email
From ACM Opinion

Whoever Wins the White House, This Year's Big Loser Is Email

Every four years, pundits race to anoint this or that newfangled tech trend as the next disruptive force to forever alter the mechanics of American democracy.

Dwarf Planets Aren't Big News, Because Astronomy Is Doing a Great Job
From ACM Opinion

Dwarf Planets Aren't Big News, Because Astronomy Is Doing a Great Job

Last week, astronomers  announced the discovery of DeeDee, a possible dwarf planet. That name—dwarf planet—means it is like Pluto: Massive enough to assume a spherical...

I Just Want Nate Silver to Tell Me It's All Going to Be Fine
From ACM Opinion

I Just Want Nate Silver to Tell Me It's All Going to Be Fine

Evan has a habit. He's not ashamed of it, but he doesn't want to reveal too much about himself, lest his colleagues learn how he’s spending so much of his time.

George Orwell Never Dreamed of Advertising as Invasive as Yahoo's Proposal
From ACM Opinion

George Orwell Never Dreamed of Advertising as Invasive as Yahoo's Proposal

Yahoo wants to take advertising to the next level—that is, the Orwellian level—bombarding people in public places with targeted advertising served up by the surveillance...

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.

There Is a Blind Spot in AI Research
From ACM Opinion

There Is a Blind Spot in AI Research

This week, the White House published its report on the future of artificial intelligence (AI)—a product of four workshops held between May and July 2016 in Seattle...

Welcome Your New Robot Overlords: Humans
From ACM Opinion

Welcome Your New Robot Overlords: Humans

I became a robot.

Russian Hacking Crisis Tests Obama's Nerve
From ACM Opinion

Russian Hacking Crisis Tests Obama's Nerve

President Barack Obama came under immediate pressure Friday night to punish Russia for hacking into US political institutions—with calls to rally European allies...

Surveillance in the Post-Obama Era
From ACM Opinion

Surveillance in the Post-Obama Era

During his 2008 campaign, President Obama vowed to assert greater oversight of the massive surveillance apparatus built in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, arguing...

Google Is Listening
From ACM Opinion

Google Is Listening

You know the cliché that if you're not paying for the product, you are the product?

Would It Be Ethical to Implant False Memories in Therapy?
From ACM Opinion

Would It Be Ethical to Implant False Memories in Therapy?

Take a moment to remember an event that you experienced as a child.

An Ode to the Rosetta Spacecraft as It Flings Itself Into a Comet
From ACM Opinion

An Ode to the Rosetta Spacecraft as It Flings Itself Into a Comet

Today, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will engage its thrusters for one final maneuver: a suicidal plunge toward the comet it has been orbiting...

Y2k 2.0: Is the ­.s. Government Set to 'give Away the Internet' Saturday?
From ACM Opinion

Y2k 2.0: Is the ­.s. Government Set to 'give Away the Internet' Saturday?

Remember the projected Y2K bug disaster? The world's computers would supposedly go haywire as the clock ticked to January 1, 2000, thus destroying the world and...

Why Data Is the New Coal
From ACM Opinion

Why Data Is the New Coal

"Is data the new oil?" asked proponents of big data back in 2012 in Forbes magazine. By 2016, and the rise of big data's turbo-powered cousin deep learning, westated Fortune...

Grading the Presidential Candidates on Science
From ACM Opinion

Grading the Presidential Candidates on Science

Two weeks ago, Scientific American asked for your help in grading the presidential candidates on their answers to 20 questions about various aspects of scientific...

The Internet Is No Place For Public Elections
From ACM Opinion

The Internet Is No Place For Public Elections

Despite what your local election officials may tell you, you can’t trust the Internet with your vote.

What If the Aliens We Are Looking For Are Ai?
From ACM Opinion

What If the Aliens We Are Looking For Are Ai?

For more than a century we have been broadcasting our presence to the cosmos.
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