Communications of the ACM
From ACM Opinion
Concerns of an Artificial Intelligence Pioneer
In January, the British-American computer scientist Stuart Russell drafted and became the first signatory of an open letter calling for researchers to look beyond...
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40 Busy Years Later, a Microsoft Founder Considers His Creation
Looking at Microsoft’s sprawling product line and 118,000 or so employees, it’s easy to forget that the company started with one modest product made by two ambitious...
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Mercury Mission Set to End with Dramatic Crash
On 30 April, after more than four years in orbit around Mercury, NASA's MESSENGER probe will plunge to its doom.
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Considering 'the Philosophy of the Web'
We associate technology with the shiny and new. But humans have been using technology to change the environment and themselves since at least the lower Paleolithic...
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3 Questions on Killer Robots
Delegates to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons are meeting this week in Geneva to discuss fully autonomous weapons—machines that could...
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Moore's Law Will Bring Emotional Machines—softbank Ceo
Humans will face their biggest test when computers surpass human intellectual capabilities, according to Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank...
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Moore's Law Hits 50, but It May Not See 60
Moore's Law turns 50 years old this Sunday. It may not make it to 60.
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The Inner Lives of Robots: An Interview with Filmmaker Alex Garland
Like self-replicating machines, robot movies are taking over Hollywood.
From ACM Opinion
Hbo's John Oliver Hits Snowden Hard on Nsa Leaks
Edward Snowden and an unlikely interviewer squared-off on HBO over the leaks that exposed the National Security Agency's extensive surveillance programs.
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ndersea Cables Transport 99 Percent of International Data
Things at the bottom of the sea: pale fish, manganese nodules, plastic trash and cables. Lots of cables.
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First White House Data Chief Discusses His Top Priorities
Data science is not entirely new to Washington, D.C.—nor is DJ Patil, who was recently named as the U.S.'s first chief data scientist.
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How Facebook's Chief Geek Will Meld Reality with the Oculus
Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer turned 40 last month. He (just barely) blew out a row of 40 candles during a mini-celebration at company headquarters...
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Dj Patil Talks Nerdy to S
DJ Patil was recently named the White House's deputy chief technology officer for data policy and chief data scientist, making him the first-ever national datacoined...
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Edward Snowden Issues 'call to Arms' For Tech Companies in Secret Sxsw Meeting
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was a highlight of last year's SXSW, where he gave one of his first public speeches. This year, Snowden was back at SXSW—but only...
From ACM Opinion
Data and Goliath: Bruce Schneier on the Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World
The book chronicles how governments and corporation have built an unprecedented surveillance state.
From ACM Opinion
Smartphones Set For Large-Scale Health Studies
Countless owners of smartphones and wearable devices are already using their devices to track their sleep, exercise, blood pressure and other measures of health...
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The Mathematics Behind Internet Virality
For a few days in late February, the world stopped to argue over a photograph.
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There Is Actually One Thing You Can Do to Fight the Surveillance Machine
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From ACM Opinion
Frank Drake Thinks It's Silly to Send Messages to Et
Making contact with aliens: the subject of many a sci-fi story, and a variety of imagined outcomes. Though no one knows what will happen if we encounter intelligent...
From ACM Opinion