Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
All Alone in No Man's Sky
If reality is a game—a vast, snow-globe-y sort of experiment that plays out according to the hard rules of physics and the loose rules of story—then it is, in contemporary...
From ACM Opinion
World Should Consider Limits to Future Internet Expansion to Control Energy Consumption
The world should consider ways to limit data growth on the internet to prevent run-away energy consumption and help limit carbon emissions, say leading computer...
From ACM Opinion
Marconi Forged Today's Interconnected World of Communication
At Guglielmo Marconi's grand state funeral in Rome in 1937—orchestrated with military-style pomp by the black-shirted Benito Mussolini—the largest wreath on the...
From ACM Opinion
Hydrogen Molecule Falls to Quantum Computer
We are at the beginning of a revolution. I've been going on about quantum computing for as long as I've been writing, but it has always been in the future tense...
From ACM Opinion
Why Save a Computer Virus?
On average, 82,000 new malware threats are created each day.
From ACM Opinion
Presidential Campaigns Are Talking Around The Robot In The Room
While U.S. presidential candidates are talking about tax rates, tax breaks, and trade — they are ignoring an economic issue that soon may matter far more to working...
From ACM Opinion
Can We Trust Julian Assange and Wikileaks?
The release of a cache of emails from the Democratic National Committee by WikiLeaks last month has raised a great many questions—about the role of the D.N.C. in...
From ACM Opinion
After Fatality, Autonomous Car Development May Speed p
The world has witnessed enormous advances in autonomous passenger vehicle technologies over the last dozen years.
From ACM Opinion
Take Responsibility For Electronic-Waste Disposal
The world is producing ever more electrical and electronic waste.
From ACM Opinion
Remembering a Thinker Who Thought About Thinking
The field of educational technology is mourning a visionary whose work was considered 50 years ahead of its time.
From ACM Opinion
The World's Best Cyber Army Doesn't Belong to Russia
National attention is focused on Russian eavesdroppers' possible targeting of U.S. presidential candidates and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
From ACM Opinion
The Lessons of the DNC Hack
Just days after Robert Gates became secretary of defense in December 2006, in the middle of George W. Bush’s second term, he found himself so stunned by the volume...
From ACM Opinion
The Doom of Your Memories Doesn't Really Exist
If you played Doom during its heyday in the 90s, I have some disappointing news: it's not as frightening as you remember.
From ACM Opinion
How Copyright Law Stifles Your Right to Tinker with Tech
The CEO of the gadget-repair site iFixit explains why tech groups are suing the U.S. government over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
From ACM Opinion
Wikileaks Has Officially Lost the Moral High Ground
What the heck is going on at WikiLeaks?
From ACM Opinion
Dark Patterns Are Designed to Trick You (and They're All Over the Web)
It happens to the best of us. After looking closely at a bank statement or cable bill, suddenly a small, unrecognizable charge appears.
From ACM Opinion
The Science That Fed Frankenstein
In 1816, a teenager began to compose what many view as the first true work of science fiction—and unleashed one of the most subversive attacks on modern science...
From ACM Opinion
Could Brain Training Prevent Dementia?
It's been a lousy couple of years for researchers who study the effects of computerized brain training.
From ACM Opinion