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
How Sci-Fi Like WarGames Led to Real Policy During the Reagan Administration
This year, John Badham's WarGames—one of the movies most beloved by hackers, techies, and tech policy wonks (like me!)—celebrates its 35th anniversary.
From ACM Opinion
What Went Wrong With IBM's Watson
What if artificial intelligence can't cure cancer after all?
From ACM Opinion
There Is No Such Thing as 'the' Blockchain
How do you quadruple your stock price without lifting a finger?
From ACM Opinion
Curiosity Finds An(other) Alien Visitor on Mars
The Curiosity rover has been on Mars since Aug. 6, 2012.
From ACM Opinion
My God. It's Full of Black Holes.
The image above doesn’t look like much at a glance, does it?
From ACM Opinion
Why frankenstein is Still Relevant, Almost 200 Years After It Was Published
Can I be totally honest? All I remember about Frankenstein is that Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster. What happens in it?
From ACM Opinion
What Is 'military Artificial Intelligence'?
We are in an era of existential fear of technology.
From ACM Opinion
A Strip of Pluto
I know, that image above doesn't look like much, does it? But go ahead, click it. I dare you.
From ACM Opinion
What Cyberwar Against Isis Should Look Like
Pentagon officials have publicly said, in recent weeks, that they're hitting ISIS not only with bullets and bombs but also with cyberoffensive operations.
From ACM Opinion
We Don't Need Humans on Mars
The two mobile robots Spirit and Opportunity were launched from Earth in 2003 and arrived on opposite sides of Mars in 2004. A suite of cameras, instruments, and...
From ACM News
What a Comet Looks Like … From 9 Meters Away!
The European Space Agency has just released some fantastic close-up images taken by the Philae lander of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
From ACM Opinion
Is Star Trek Tech Possible?
My friend Veronica Belmont is pretty cool. Nerd, writer, TV host… and now she’s doing an online video series with Engadget called "Dear Veronica," where she answers...
From ACM Opinion
Why Mlb Fans Should Lament the Failure of Google Glass
The consumer tech world received a jolt in January when the Wall Street Journal reported that Google executives were freezing all sales of its futuristically goofy...
From ACM Opinion
So Sayeth Google
Search for "vaccines." At least within our filter bubble, the top item in Google's "In the news" section earlier this week was an anti-vax column about the "feds'...
From ACM News
Nasa Has Its Sights Set on Europa
Yesterday, NASA announced its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request.
From ACM Opinion
Dumbing It Down in the Cockpit
Long gone are the leather jackets, goggles, and silk scarves flung over the shoulders of aviators who wrestled with flight controls, furiously scanned instruments...
From ACM Opinion
We Might Be Able to 3-D-Print an Artificial Mind One Day
I'm an artificial-intelligence skeptic.
From ACM Opinion
How Not to Build a Brain
Building a brain sounds like a worthy goal, one that makes it seem as though the future is within reach.
From ACM Opinion
Google's Eyes in the Sky
When Sergey Brin and Larry Page built the search engine that would become Google, they started by making maps.
From ACM Opinion