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Driverless Cars Are Colliding with the Creepy Trolley Problem
From ACM Opinion

Driverless Cars Are Colliding with the Creepy Trolley Problem

Philosophers have been gnawing on the infamous Trolley Problem for decades, and it’s always been a purely intellectual exercise with no "right" answer.

The Dark Side of the Coming Chatbot Revolution
From ACM Opinion

The Dark Side of the Coming Chatbot Revolution

Artificial intelligence is coming to a messaging app near you.

Genome-Editing Revolution: My Whirlwind Year with Crispr
From ACM Opinion

Genome-Editing Revolution: My Whirlwind Year with Crispr

Some 20 months ago, I started having trouble sleeping.

How the Internet of Things Limits Consumer Choice
From ACM Opinion

How the Internet of Things Limits Consumer Choice

In theory, the Internet of Things—the connected network of tiny computers inside home appliances, household objects, even clothing—promises to make your life easier...

The Science to Look Out For in 2016
From ACM Opinion

The Science to Look Out For in 2016

A Swiss company is set to become the first firm to capture carbon dioxide from the air and sell it on a commercial scale, a stepping stone to larger facilities...

The Death of American Research and Development
From ACM Opinion

The Death of American Research and Development

When rumors began to fly about a merger between chemical giants Dow Chemical  and DuPont , it was obvious the deal was not your ordinary fee-driven scheme dreamed...

A Pause to Weigh Risks of Gene Editing
From ACM Opinion

A Pause to Weigh Risks of Gene Editing

The technology for altering defects in the human genome has progressed so rapidly in the last three years that it has outstripped the ability of scientists and...

Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar AI Plan Is About Far More Than Saving the World
From ACM Opinion

Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar AI Plan Is About Far More Than Saving the World

Elon Musk and Sam Altman worry that artificial intelligence will take over the world. So, the two entrepreneurs are creating a billion-dollar not-for-profit company...

What the Government Should've Learned About Backdoors from the Clipper Chip
From ACM Opinion

What the Government Should've Learned About Backdoors from the Clipper Chip

In the face of a Federal Bureau of Investigation proposal requesting backdoors into encrypted communications, a noted encryption expert urged Congress not to adopt...

Let's Outlaw Math
From ACM Opinion

Let's Outlaw Math

In the name of protecting us against terrorists, law enforcement agencies want high tech companies to relinquish their Golden Keys, backdoors to their otherwise...

How the Science in 'star Wars’ Is Actually Real
From ACM Opinion

How the Science in 'star Wars’ Is Actually Real

For a story that takes place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" a great deal of the technology in the "Star Wars" series actually has parallels today on...

The End of Work?
From ACM Opinion

The End of Work?

Welcome to the era of AI-human hybrid intelligence, where people and artificial intelligence systems work together seamlessly.

Driverless Cars Are Like Elevators
From ACM Opinion

Driverless Cars Are Like Elevators

One of the challenges in describing the potential of self-driving cars is that they promise to do so much.

Google's New Autoreply Sounds Great!!!!
From ACM Opinion

Google's New Autoreply Sounds Great!!!!

On April 1, 2009, Google unveiled Gmail Autopilot, a plug-in that promised to read and generate contextually relevant replies to the messages piling up in users'...

Eric Schmidt on How to Build a Better Web
From ACM Opinion

Eric Schmidt on How to Build a Better Web

Turning Point: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria declares a war on Twitter.

Big Data's Mathematical Mysteries
From ACM Opinion

Big Data's Mathematical Mysteries

At a dinner I attended some years ago, the distinguished differential geometer Eugenio Calabi volunteered to me his tongue-in-cheek distinction between pure and...

Dark Clouds Over the Internet
From ACM Opinion

Dark Clouds Over the Internet

The Internet is routinely described as borderless, and that is often how it feels.

Crispr Is Getting Better. Now It's Time to Ask the Hard Ethical Questions
From ACM Opinion

Crispr Is Getting Better. Now It's Time to Ask the Hard Ethical Questions

When Chinese scientists announced in April they had edited human embryos using a new genetic tool called Crispr, the headlines blared "designer babies," and the...

Better Than Sci-Fi
From ACM Opinion

Better Than Sci-Fi

Science fiction has imagined some pretty wild ideas about the universe and our place in it.

Metadata Surveillance Didn't Stop the Paris Attacks
From ACM Opinion

Metadata Surveillance Didn't Stop the Paris Attacks

Since terrorists struck Paris last Friday night, the debate over whether encryption prevents intelligence services from stopping attacks has reignited.
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