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
A Conversation with Crispr-Cas9 Inventors Charpentier and Doudna
At the American Society of Human Genetics meeting in October, CRISPR-Cas9 inventors Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier accepted the Gruber Genetics Prize...
From ACM Opinion
Eric Schmidt on How to Build a Better Web
Turning Point: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria declares a war on Twitter.
From ACM Opinion
Big Data's Mathematical Mysteries
At a dinner I attended some years ago, the distinguished differential geometer Eugenio Calabi volunteered to me his tongue-in-cheek distinction between pure and...
From ACM Opinion
Huge MIT Media Lab Inventions That Transformed Our World
For the last 30 years, the MIT Lab has been a breeding ground for technological progress that’s pushed the world into the future.
From ACM Opinion
Pop Culture Is Finally Getting Hacking Right
The idea of a drill-wielding hacker who runs a deep-web empire selling drugs to teens seems like a fantasy embodying the worst of digital technology.
From ACM Opinion
In Defense of Algorithms
OK, I'm biased, given the countless hours I have spent over the past three decades creating algorithms, implementing them on computers, and then writing about them...
From ACM Opinion
Dark Clouds Over the Internet
The Internet is routinely described as borderless, and that is often how it feels.
From ACM Opinion
Crispr Is Getting Better. Now It's Time to Ask the Hard Ethical Questions
When Chinese scientists announced in April they had edited human embryos using a new genetic tool called Crispr, the headlines blared "designer babies," and the...
From ACM Opinion
No, Nsa Phone Spying Has Not Ended
At 11:59 P.M. on Saturday night, the U.S. National Security Agency supposedly yanked the cord on its bulk telephone records collection, thereby ending an expansive...
From ACM Opinion
Better Than Sci-Fi
Science fiction has imagined some pretty wild ideas about the universe and our place in it.
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
What Digital Trash Dumped in Games Tells S About the Players
A strawberry Christmas cake, sexy pants, a pool table, three red jet planes, a hippy bandana, a dog sled, a jetpack, a pair of Adidas trainers, a Tudor throne,an...
From Communications of the ACM
Creating a New Generation of Computational Thinkers
Experiences with a successful school program in Scotland.
From Communications of the ACM
The Case For Banning Killer Robots: Counterpoint
Let me unequivocally state: The status quo with respect to innocent civilian casualties is utterly and wholly unacceptable.
From Communications of the ACM
The Case For Banning Killer Robots: Point
Ban the bots? Considering both sides of the argument for and against.
From Communications of the ACM
I Can't Let You Do That, Dave
Computers should not treat their owners as adversaries.
From Communications of the ACM
Increasing the Participation of Individuals with Disabilities in Computing
Lessons learned from a decade of practice.
From Communications of the ACM
Pickled Patches
On repositories of patches and tension between security professionals and in-house developers.
From Communications of the ACM