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
William Gibson Sees the Future
"The thing to keep in mind," William Gibson tells me when we meet in the quiet lounge of a Victorian-style hotel in Chicago, "is that I’m not actually predicting...
From ACM Opinion
Dumbing It Down in the Cockpit
Long gone are the leather jackets, goggles, and silk scarves flung over the shoulders of aviators who wrestled with flight controls, furiously scanned instruments...
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence Isn't a Threat—Yet
Does artificial intelligence threaten our species, as the cosmologist Stephen Hawking recently suggested?
From ACM Opinion
Ransomware Is the Future of Consumer Cybercrime
It's 2020, bitter cold outside, you’re running late for work, and the Linux box that controls your car isn't going to start unless you wire $20 worth of Bitcoin...
From ACM Opinion
The World Cracks Down on the Internet
In September of last year, Chinese authorities announced an unorthodox standard to help them decide whether to punish people for posting online comments that are...
From ACM Opinion
Sure, Artificial Intelligence May End Our World, But That Is Not the Main Problem
The robots will rise, we're told.
From ACM Opinion
How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition
Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware...
From ACM Opinion
Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence Could End Mankind
He told the BBC: "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."
From ACM Opinion
Turing's Spirit Hovers at a Restored Estate
When "Captain Ridley's shooting party" gathered here in late August 1938 as weekend guests at Bletchley Park, a Buckinghamshire country house, they were accompanied...
From ACM Opinion
Hacker Mitnick Has a Plan to Help You Stay Safe Online
Even famed hacker Kevin Mitnick—labeled a "computer terrorist" by the FBI in the '90s—worries about getting hacked.
From Communications of the ACM
The Internet That Facebook Built
The on-ramp might appear free but exiting takes a toll.
From Communications of the ACM
The Whole Professional
A new book inspires a reflection on what it means to be a whole, competent, and effective professional — and may portend a wave of disruption in education.
From Communications of the ACM
Innovation and Inclusion
What technology companies, especially startups, need to know about building great places to work — for her and him — in the digital age.
From Communications of the ACM
Making the Case For a 'Manufacturing Execution System' For Software Development
Seeking to improve information integration throughout the manufacturing process.
From ACM Opinion
How the Smartphone Killed Typing—but Started an AI Revolution
Steve Jobs often swam against the tide of prevailing opinion.
From ACM Opinion
Algorithms Are Great and All, But They Can Also Ruin Lives
On April 5, 2011, 41-year-old John Gass received a letter from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.
From ACM Opinion
Why the Surveillance State Lives On
Once upon a time, Glenn Greenwald was a lonely voice in the blogging wilderness, and Edward Snowden was an isolated functionary at the heart of the American national...
From ACM Opinion
These Are 3 Breakthrough Science Ideas You'll Be Talking About in 2015
For anyone who has ever said that all the STEM professions need is something to make them "cool" in order to attract more young people, look no further than ...
From ACM Opinion