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
What Is Elegance in Science?
In 1957, a few years after Francis Crick co-discovered the DNA double helix and a few years before he co-won a Nobel Prize for doing so, he published a paper on...
From ACM Opinion
How Close Are We Really to a Robot-Run Society?
From Rosie, the Jetsons' robot maid, to Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg in The Terminator, popular culture has frequently conceived of robots as having a human-like...
From Communications of the ACM
The Pros and Cons of the 'PACM' Proposal: Counterpoint
In "Should Conferences Meet Journals and Where?" ACM Publications Board co-chairs Joseph A. Konstan and Jack W. Davidson introduce a proposal that would interweave...
From Communications of the ACM
The Pros and Cons of the 'PACM' Proposal: Point
In "Should Conferences Meet Journals and Where?" ACM Publications Board co-chairs Joseph A. Konstan and Jack W. Davidson introduce a proposal that would interweave...
From Communications of the ACM
Theory Without Experiments: Have We Gone Too Far?
Seeking a better understanding of computing through a mixture of theory and appropriate experimental evidence.
From Communications of the ACM
Experiments as Research Validation: Have We Gone Too Far?
Reconsidering conference paper reviewers' requirements for experimental evidence.
From Communications of the ACM
Automated Education and the Professional
Technology boffins argue the new technologies of intelligent personal learning environments will put universities out of business. Will the purported successor,...
From Communications of the ACM
The Value of Social Theories For Global Computing
Conceptual toolkits for projects that work.
From Communications of the ACM
The Rise of the Robo Notice
Examining the conflicting claims involving the use of automated tools in copyright-related notice-and-takedown procedures.
From Communications of the ACM
Innovators Assemble: Ada Lovelace, Walter Isaacson, and the Superheroines of Computing
Can computing history be both inspiring and accurate?
From ACM Opinion
Move Over, Siri—the Next Generation of Virtual Assistants Is Almost Here
Virtual voice-controlled assistants such as Siri, Cortana and Google Now are magical.
From ACM Opinion
It's Operating Systems Vs. Messaging Apps In The Battle For Tech's Next Frontier
As mobile devices continue to explore and colonize the technology landscape, their conquests are leading us to a new era, beyond search and apps.
From ACM Opinion
The Amazingly Accurate Futurism of 2001: A Space Odyssey
The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey" documents in nearly scientific detail exactly that: the story of how the iconic science-fiction film came...
From ACM Opinion
The End of the Internet Dream
Twenty years ago I attended my first Def Con. I believed in a free, open, reliable, interoperable Internet: a place where anyone can say anything, and anyone who...
From ACM Opinion
We Flew a Simulated 747 at Nasa and Didn't Crash or Barf
From a viewing spot in a high bay room at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, I peer through a glass window at a cab that simulates the cockpit of a commercial...
From ACM Opinion
Apple Carplay Review: Siri's Finally on the Right Road
I take back all—OK most—of the expletives I’ve ever hurled at Siri.
From ACM Opinion
Robot Weapons: What's the Harm?
Last month over a thousand scientists and tech-world luminaries, including Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak, released an open letter calling for a global...
From ACM Opinion
Humans, Not Robots, Are the Real Reason Artificial Intelligence Is Scary
Unfortunately, much of the recent outcry against artificial-intelligence weapons has been confused, conjuring robot takeovers of mankind.
From ACM Opinion
Will Artificial Intelligence Surpass Our Own?
Famed science-fiction writer Fredric Brown (1906–1972) delighted in creating the shortest of short stories. "Answer," published in 1954, encapsulated a prescient...
From ACM Opinion