Communications of the ACM
Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Digital innovation is not working in the interest of the whole of society. It is time to radically rethink its purpose without…
From ACM Opinion
Why the Iphone X's Face Id Is a Terrible Way to Secure Your Data
The new iPhone X puts face recognition front and centre. Why? Because it is the quickest and easiest way to unlock your phone.
From ACM Opinion
The Darkening Web: Misinformation Is the Strongest Cyberweapon
In late June, I was leaving for a flight from Kiev's Boryspil Airport as news broke that Ukraine was the victim of another massive cyberattack.
From ACM Opinion
We Can Stop Hacking and Trolls, but It Would Ruin the Internet
Cyberterrorism fears are through the roof.
From ACM Opinion
Who Do We Think We Are?
"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee; Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow; Die not, poor Death...
From ACM Opinion
Robots Will Be More seful If They Are Made to Lack Confidence
Confidence in your abilities is usually a good thing—as long as you can recognise when it's time to ask for help.
From ACM Opinion
War By Any Means: The Story of DARPA
Shortly after arriving at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in April 1958, the new chief scientist presented a plan to the agency's director.
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
How Alan Turing Found Machine Thinking in the Human Mind
In 1935, Alan Turing set out to build a reputation by outflanking the world's leading mathematician.
From ACM Opinion
Checklist of Worst-Case Scenarios Could Help Prepare For Evil AI
Artificial intelligence—what's the worst that can happen? For Roman Yampolskiy, a computer scientist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, the sky’s the...
From ACM Opinion
I'm the First Quadriplegic Person to Regain Thought-Control of My Arm
I'm the first quadriplegic person in the world to use my own thoughts to control my own arm. It's a pretty neat experience.
From ACM Opinion
Explosive Golf Video Game Has the Best Physics Simulation Ever
Before teeing off, I take a few seconds to line up the shot.
From ACM Opinion
What Digital Trash Dumped in Games Tells S About the Players
A strawberry Christmas cake, sexy pants, a pool table, three red jet planes, a hippy bandana, a dog sled, a jetpack, a pair of Adidas trainers, a Tudor throne,an...
From ACM Opinion
The Hot New Job in Silicon Valley Is Being a Robot's Assistant
"I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords." So goes the joke every time artificial intelligence threatens to supersede humans in another job.
From ACM Opinion
The Master Algorithm: A World Remade By Machines that Learn
Pedro Domingos's new book is a compelling but rather unquestioning insider view of the search for the ultimate in machine learning.
From ACM Opinion
How the Scariest Video Games se Our Own Minds to Terrify s
I think he’s gone—Oh! He's not gone he’s not gone no no no he’s not gone oh Jesus Christ look at his face
From ACM Opinion
Psychiatry Is Reinventing Itself Thanks to Advances in Biology
A revolution is under way in psychiatry. The science underpinning this discipline has in the past shifted from psychology to pharmacology, and now it is changing...
From ACM Opinion
David and Goliath: What Do We Do About Surveillance?
"Dear subscriber, you have been registered as a participant in a mass disturbance."
From ACM Opinion
Virtual Zombie Apocalypse Can Prepare S For Disaster
Why use online games to study our responses to catastrophic events?
From ACM Opinion
Work in an Age of Robots
What you are about to read was written by a human. Honest.
From ACM Opinion
Ex Machina: Quest to Create an AI Takes No Prisoners
It's a rare thing to see a movie about science that takes no prisoners intellectually.12