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
First the Cloud, Now AI Takes on the Scientific Method
Back when I was doing research, one of my advisors once joked that, if you wait long enough, you can produce an old result using new methods, manage to get it published...
From ACM Opinion
Designing Antiviral Proteins via Computer Could Help Halt the Next pandemic
As Bill Gates sees it, there are three main threats to our species: nuclear war, climate change and the next global pandemic.
From ACM Opinion
Wanted: More Data, the Dirtier the Better
To distill a clear message from growing piles of unruly genomics data, researchers often turn to meta-analysis—a tried-and-true statistical procedure for combining...
From ACM Opinion
The Latest Nsa Leak Is a Reminder that Your Bosses Can See Your Every Move
It took just days for authorities to arrest and charge a federal contractor with leaking classified intelligence to the media.
From ACM Opinion
A Guide to Challenges Facing Self-Driving Car Technologists
In the minds of many in Silicon Valley and in the auto industry, it is inevitable that cars will eventually drive themselves.
From ACM Opinion
Privacy in the Cellphone Age
Odds are you need to use that phone in your pocket many times a day—and doing so leaves you no choice but to constantly relay data revealing your location and movements...
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
The Mysterious Printer Code That Could Have Led the Fbi to Reality Winner
Across the computer security world yesterday, heads were shaking.
From ACM News
Enigma: Why the Fight to Break Nazi Encryption Still Matters
It was night when three British sailors and a 16-year-old canteen assistant boarded a sinking U-boat off the coast of Egypt.
From ACM Opinion
Why Apple Is Struggling to Become an Artificial-Intelligence Powerhouse
In 2011, Apple became the first company to place artificial intelligence in the pockets of millions of consumers when it launched the voice assistant Siri on the...
From ACM Opinion
How to Call B.s. on Big Data: A Practical Guide
"Nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you," the Oxford philosophy professor John Alexander Smith told...
From ACM Opinion
Who Will Pay For the Future If Not the Robots?
RRobots are taking over the world's workforce—and why shouldn't they?
From ACM Opinion
20 Years After Deep Blue: How AI Has Advanced Since Conquering Chess
Twenty years ago IBM's Deep Blue computer stunned the world by becoming the first machine to beat a reigning world chess champion in a six-game match.
From ACM Opinion
Military-Funded Prosthetic Technologies Benefit More Than Just Veterans
In 1905, an Ohio farmer survived a railroad accident that cost him both of his legs.
From ACM Opinion
To Make Your Conspiracy Theory Legit, Just Find an 'expert'
"MIT Professor Exposes 'Egregious Error' & Evidence Tampering in US Report on Syria Sarin Incident." Pretty good headline, right?
From ACM Opinion
Japan's Scientific Prowess in Critical Condition
Japan's scientific might is in danger of decline. The country's sluggish science and technology budget is making it difficult to secure talent, and research facilities...
From ACM Opinion
7 in 10 Smartphone Apps Share Your Data with Third-Party Services
Our mobile phones can reveal a lot about ourselves: where we live and work; who our family, friends and acquaintances are; how (and even what) we communicate with...
From ACM Opinion
Who Feels the Pain of Science Research Budget Cuts?
Science funding is intended to support the production of new knowledge and ideas that develop new technologies, improve medical treatments and strengthen the economy...
From ACM Opinion
If You Can't Retain Women, Don't Recruit Them
Silicon Valley should stop recruiting efforts to hire women.
From ACM Opinion