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
Best Books of 2016
Our editors' picks for the best books of 2016, and some they're eagerly anticipating.
From ACM Opinion
Nasa's Overlooked Duty to Look Inward
In 1942, not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the poet Archibald MacLeish wrote an essay called "The Image of Victory," in which he asked what winning the...
From ACM News
The Year Encryption Won
Between the revelations of mega-hacks of Yahoo and others, Russia's meddling in the US electoral system, and the recent spike in ransomware, it's easy to look at...
From ACM Opinion
2017 Sneak Peek: What the New Year Holds For Science
If the United States pulls back on its climate commitments as president-elect Donald Trump has promised, China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases,...
From ACM Opinion
Heinlein and Clarke Discuss the Moon Landings as They Happen
Chances are that anyone in their 50s or older will remember watching Apollo 11 land on the Moon.
From ACM Opinion
Building Jarvis
My personal challenge for 2016 was to build a simple AI to run my home—like Jarvis in Iron Man.
From ACM Opinion
Dear Mr. Trump: To 'cyber' Better, Try the Blockchain
A massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack took several high-profile websites—Twitter, Amazon, the New York Times, even WIRED—offline in October.
From Communications of the ACM
Effects of International Trafficking in Arms Regulations Changes
Considering the impact of recent ITAR changes to the U.S. software industry and software education.
From Communications of the ACM
Artificial Intelligence: Think Again
Social and cultural conventions are an often-neglected aspect of intelligent-machine development.
From Communications of the ACM
Colossal Genius: Tutte, Flowers, and a Bad Imitation of Turing
Reflections on pioneering code-breaking efforts.
From Communications of the ACM
Why Less Is More When It Comes to Internet Jurisdiction
Considering legal uncertainty in the online environment.
From Communications of the ACM
Is Google's Alphabet a Good Bet?
A relatively simple query raises myriad complicated issues.
From ACM Opinion
The Internet Is Broken. Starting from Scratch, Here's How I'd Fix It.
My big idea is that we have to fix the Internet.
From ACM Opinion
Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, on the Future of Ai, Robots, and Coffeemakers
Astro Teller has an unusual way of starting a new project: He tries to kill it.
From ACM Opinion
A World of Surveillance Doesn't Always Help to Catch a Thief
Earlier this year, I had a beer in one of the more budget-conscious bars in the Mission district. My wallet stayed a little later than I did.
From ACM Opinion
If We Made Contact with Aliens, How Would Religions React?
In 2014, Nasa awarded $1.1M to the Center for Theological Inquiry, an ecumenical research institute in New Jersey, to study “the societal implications of astrobiology”...
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence Has a Big Year Ahead
Get ready for AI to show up where you'd least expect it.
From ACM Opinion
Nasa Science Chief: 'i Have No Worries About the Resilience of This Country'
Solar physicist Thomas Zurbuchen became NASA's science chief in October, replacing astronaut John Grunsfeld. Just one month later, the US political system wentwhen...
From ACM Opinion