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The Robots Have Descended on Trump Country
From ACM Opinion

The Robots Have Descended on Trump Country

The growing use of work robots and the deployment of artificial intelligence have been most disruptive in just those areas of the country that provided President...

What the California Wildfires Can Teach ­s About Data Sharing
From ACM Opinion

What the California Wildfires Can Teach ­s About Data Sharing

When a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant failed, leaking radioactive material...

Is the ­.S. Lagging in the Quest for Quantum Computing?
From ACM Opinion

Is the ­.S. Lagging in the Quest for Quantum Computing?

A quantum computer capable of breaking the strongest codes protecting online communications and computer data is highly unlikely to appear within the next decade...

Facebook's Top AI Scientist Says It's 'Dust' Without Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

Facebook's Top AI Scientist Says It's 'Dust' Without Artificial Intelligence

Without artificial intelligence there wouldn't be much left of Facebook as we know it today.

Mars Beckons
From ACM Opinion

Mars Beckons

The science and technology behind NASA's latest space explorer to land on Mars are so awe-inducing that it's hardly surprising when scientists commenting on the...

CRISPR Inventor Feng Zhang Calls for Moratorium on Gene-Edited Babies
From ACM Opinion

CRISPR Inventor Feng Zhang Calls for Moratorium on Gene-Edited Babies

Feng Zhang, one of the inventors of the gene-editing technique CRISPR, has called for a global moratorium on using the technology to create gene-edited babies. ...

Try Landing InSight on Mars (Without Exploding)
From ACM Opinion

Try Landing InSight on Mars (Without Exploding)

NASA just parked its InSight lander on Mars. Yes, Mars. This is a pretty big deal since quite a few Mars missions didn't make it.

 Inspired by Sci-Fi, an Airplane with No Moving Parts and a Blue Ionic Glow
From ACM Opinion

Inspired by Sci-Fi, an Airplane with No Moving Parts and a Blue Ionic Glow

Since their invention more than 100 years ago, airplanes have been moved through the air by the spinning surfaces of propellers or turbines.

Opportunities and Challenges in Search Interaction
From Communications of the ACM

Opportunities and Challenges in Search Interaction

Seeking to address a wider range of user requests toward task completion.

A Chance Gardener
From Communications of the ACM

A Chance Gardener

Harvesting open source products and planting the next crop.

One of the Fathers of AI Is Worried About Its Future
From ACM Opinion

One of the Fathers of AI Is Worried About Its Future

Yoshua Bengio is a grand master of modern artificial intelligence.

You Know What? Go Ahead and ­se the Hotel Wi-Fi
From ACM Opinion

You Know What? Go Ahead and ­se the Hotel Wi-Fi

As you travel this holiday season, bouncing from airport to airplane to hotel, you'll likely find yourself facing a familiar quandary: Do I really trust this ...

The Case Against Quantum Computing
From ACM Opinion

The Case Against Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is all the rage. It seems like hardly a day goes by without some news outlet describing the extraordinary things this technology promises.

Sci-Fi Movies Are the Secret Weapon that Could Help Silicon Valley Grow Up
From ACM Opinion

Sci-Fi Movies Are the Secret Weapon that Could Help Silicon Valley Grow Up

If there's one line that stands the test of time in Steven Spielbergs 1993 classic "Jurassic Park," it's probably Jeff Goldblum's exclamation, "Your scientists...

Colonizing Mars Means Contaminating Mars, and Never Knowing for Sure If It Had Its Own Native Life
From ACM Opinion

Colonizing Mars Means Contaminating Mars, and Never Knowing for Sure If It Had Its Own Native Life

The closest place in the universe where extraterrestrial life might exist is Mars, and human beings are poised to attempt to colonize this planetary neighbor within...

Artificial Intelligence Hits the Barrier of Meaning
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence Hits the Barrier of Meaning

You've probably heard that we're in the midst of an A.I. revolution.

Even a Few Bots Can Shift Public Opinion in Big Ways
From ACM Opinion

Even a Few Bots Can Shift Public Opinion in Big Ways

Nearly two-thirds of the social media bots with political activity on Twitter before the 2016 U.S. presidential election supported Donald Trump.

What the Boston School Bus Schedule Can Teach ­s About AI
From ACM Opinion

What the Boston School Bus Schedule Can Teach ­s About AI

When the Boston public school system announced new start times last December, some parents found the schedules unacceptable and pushed back.

The Vulnerabilities of Our Voting Machines
From ACM Opinion

The Vulnerabilities of Our Voting Machines

A few weeks ago computer scientist J. Alex Halderman rolled an electronic voting machine onto a Massachusetts Institute of Technology stage and demonstrated how...

Nobody's Cellphone Is Really That Secure
From ACM Opinion

Nobody's Cellphone Is Really That Secure

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that the Russians and the Chinese were eavesdropping on President Donald Trump's personal cellphone and using the...
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