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Ex Machina: Quest to Create an AI Takes No Prisoners
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.

Forget Turing—i Want to Test Computer Creativity
From ACM Opinion

Forget Turing—i Want to Test Computer Creativity

What are the elements of the Turing test?

Get Your Head Around the 13 Boldest Ideas in Science
From ACM Opinion

Get Your Head Around the 13 Boldest Ideas in Science

Science is full of mind-blowing and counterintuitive concepts.

How Big Data Algorithms See ­s—while They Eat ­S ­p
From ACM Opinion

How Big Data Algorithms See ­s—while They Eat ­S ­p

Four years ago I interviewed Sam Yagan, then CEO of OKCupid, about the mathematics underlying his free matchmaking site.

What It's Like to Fly Passenger Planes from the Ground
From ACM Opinion

What It's Like to Fly Passenger Planes from the Ground

Bob Fraser explains what it feels like to pilot a Jetstream airliner containing passengers on 800-kilometre trips from his desk at BAE Systems in Warton, U.K.

Defending the Grand Vision of the Human Brain Project
From ACM Opinion

Defending the Grand Vision of the Human Brain Project

"A grass roots effort is under way to stop the project... 'Mediocre science, terrible science policy,' begins the spirited letter…"

Dobby, Pikachu, and Kermit Are My Robots' Role Models
From ACM Opinion

Dobby, Pikachu, and Kermit Are My Robots' Role Models

Humanoid robots aren't very charismatic yet.

Cyborg Angst: 5 Ways Computers Will Perplex ­S in 2039
From ACM News

Cyborg Angst: 5 Ways Computers Will Perplex ­S in 2039

Brain chips mean we are struggling to distinguish our own thoughts from ideas implanted by advertisers.

Maths Spying: The Quandary of Working For the Spooks
From ACM Opinion

Maths Spying: The Quandary of Working For the Spooks

For the past 10 months, a major international scandal has engulfed some of the world's largest employers of mathematicians.

Five Ways to Make Sure We Never Lose a Plane Again
From ACM Opinion

Five Ways to Make Sure We Never Lose a Plane Again

For the past few weeks the world's attention has been focussed on the lost Malaysia Airlines plane and its 239 passengers and crew that has apparently crashed in...

Roomba Creator: Robot Doubles Need More Charisma
From ACM Opinion

Roomba Creator: Robot Doubles Need More Charisma

Colin Angle is co-founder and CEO of iRobot in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Bitcoin: How Its Core Technology Will Change the World
From ACM Opinion

Bitcoin: How Its Core Technology Will Change the World

Bitcoin has been called many things, from the future of money to a drug dealer's dream and everything else in between.

Lifelogging: What It's Like to Record Your Whole Life
From ACM Opinion

Lifelogging: What It's Like to Record Your Whole Life

Gordon Bell, one of the first people to chronicle his existence digitally, explains how it has changed his life and the potential pitfalls.

The Great Ideas Hiding ­nder the Invisibility Cloak
From ACM Opinion

The Great Ideas Hiding ­nder the Invisibility Cloak

Physicist John Pendry talks about the profound physics obscured by his invisibility cloak and how metamaterials could help realise the perfect lens.

My Quantum Algorithm Won't Break the Internet… Yet
From ACM Opinion

My Quantum Algorithm Won't Break the Internet… Yet

Internet security relies on the fact that our computers can't break its cryptosystems. But the quantum algorithm you devised has the potential to do just that.

A Stronger 'online Eraser' Law Would Be a Mistake
From ACM Opinion

A Stronger 'online Eraser' Law Would Be a Mistake

Excited teenagers—in other words normal teenagers—have never been famous for consistently wise decisions, nor should they be.

Craig Venter: Why I Put My Name in Synthetic Genomes
From ACM Opinion

Craig Venter: Why I Put My Name in Synthetic Genomes

How has the definition of life changed during your lifetime?

Why a Cyberwar Won't Happen
From ACM Opinion

Why a Cyberwar Won't Happen

Exactly two decades ago, the RAND Corporation, an influential think tank, proclaimed that "cyberwar is coming!"

Nasa Is Turning Science Fiction Into Fact
From ACM Opinion

Nasa Is Turning Science Fiction Into Fact

As a new moon orbiter gets set to launch, Pete Worden, director of NASA Ames, says forget the 20th—this is the real space century.

State of Innovation: Busting the Private-Sector Myth
From ACM Opinion

State of Innovation: Busting the Private-Sector Myth

Images of tech entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs are continually thrown at us by politicians, economists and the media.
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