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
No More Mr. Nice Robot?
Humans might want—and need—robots to be jerks, at least sometimes.
From ACM Opinion
Editing the Internet's Second Screen
The great social media cleanup of the past two years hasn't seemed to leave it much cleaner.
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
The Problem With Terraforming Mars
Mars has loomed large throughout human history, our imaginations filling its red vistas with fantastic detail long before our space missions returned even rudimentary...
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
Vulnerability Is the Internet's Original Sin
On the day (perhaps not long from now) when the entire internet crashes, no one will be able to say that we didn’t see it coming.
From ACM Opinion
What Virtual Reality Is Good For
After years as a punchline, virtual reality is enjoying a renaissance. Venture capitalists plowed $1.2 billion into virtual-reality and augmented-reality startups...
From ACM Opinion
The Lessons of the DNC Hack
Just days after Robert Gates became secretary of defense in December 2006, in the middle of George W. Bush’s second term, he found himself so stunned by the volume...
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
Metadata Surveillance Didn't Stop the Paris Attacks
Since terrorists struck Paris last Friday night, the debate over whether encryption prevents intelligence services from stopping attacks has reignited.
From ACM Opinion
pdate: Seti Sees No Alien Signals From Weird Star
A few weeks ago, I (and a zillion other people) reported on a star about 1,500 light-years away that was acting … weirdly.
From ACM Opinion
If There Is Water on Mars, Who Gets to se It?
Humans settle around water, especially in the desert.
From ACM Opinion