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
Get Your Head Around the 13 Boldest Ideas in Science
Science is full of mind-blowing and counterintuitive concepts.
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.
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.
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…"
From ACM Opinion
Dobby, Pikachu, and Kermit Are My Robots' Role Models
Humanoid robots aren't very charismatic yet.
From ACM Opinion
My Duolingo Learning App Can Reshape Education
Duolingo users are making new courses for people who speak Asian languages like Chinese and Hindi. How does that work?
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.
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.
From ACM Opinion
Smallest Subversive: Mathematical Fight For Our World
Did you know that every time you use your cellphone, you strike a blow for republicanism against both monarchy and a fixed Divine Order?
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...
From ACM Opinion
Roomba Creator: Robot Doubles Need More Charisma
Colin Angle is co-founder and CEO of iRobot in Bedford, Massachusetts.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
From ACM Opinion
Craig Venter: Why I Put My Name in Synthetic Genomes
How has the definition of life changed during your lifetime?
From ACM Opinion
Texan Creationism Showdown May 'contaminate' Textbook
If creationists in Texas get their way, high-school students throughout the U.S. could soon be reading biology textbooks that falsely cast doubt on the scientific...
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!"
From ACM Opinion