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Why Subtraction Is the Hardest Math in Product Design
From ACM Opinion

Why Subtraction Is the Hardest Math in Product Design

Simple doesn't just sell, it sticks.

What Makes a Mind? Kurzweil and Google May Be Surprised
From ACM Opinion

What Makes a Mind? Kurzweil and Google May Be Surprised

After writing about Ray Kurzweil’s ambitious plan to create a super-intelligent personal assistant in his new job at Google (see "Ray Kurzweil Plans to Create a...

The Trouble With Tinkering Time
From ACM Careers

The Trouble With Tinkering Time

It's the latest R&D trend: penciling in tinkering time on the company clock.

What the Baseball Hall of Fame Decision Could Mean For the Singularity
From ACM Opinion

What the Baseball Hall of Fame Decision Could Mean For the Singularity

If you buy into Ray Kurzweil's vision of the Singularity, then the future is a marvelous place where we’re all physically and mentally enhanced and living longer...

The Future According to Google's Larry Page
From ACM Opinion

The Future According to Google's Larry Page

When Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, the giant advertising agency, visited Google this past fall, CEO Larry Page sent a car to pick him up at the Rosewood...

How to Design a Better World
From ACM Opinion

How to Design a Better World

When I was young, my teachers praised me for being good at math and art, but my father would always tell people, "You know, John is good at math."

The Father of Fractals
From ACM Opinion

The Father of Fractals

In nature,technology and art the most common form of regularity is repetition: a single element repeated many times, as on a tile floor. But another form is possible...

What Turned Jaron Lanier Against the Web?
From ACM Opinion

What Turned Jaron Lanier Against the Web?

I couldn't help thinking of John Le Carré's spy novels as I awaited my rendezvous with Jaron Lanier in a corner of the lobby of the stylish W Hotel just off Union...

Quantum Networks May Be More Realistic Than We Thought
From ACM Opinion

Quantum Networks May Be More Realistic Than We Thought

The nice thing about buzzwords, though, is that some people take them seriously while also recognizing the problems inherent to the idea.

Debunker of Doomsday: Nasa Scientist Tries to Talk Some Sense Into the World
From ACM Opinion

Debunker of Doomsday: Nasa Scientist Tries to Talk Some Sense Into the World

Swirling with lunacy and paranoia, the theories warn of mayhem and cataclysm.

'the Idea We Live in a Simulation Isn't Science Fiction'
From ACM Opinion

'the Idea We Live in a Simulation Isn't Science Fiction'

If the universe is just a Matrix-like simulation, how could we ever know? Physicist Silas Beane thinks he has the answer.

Red Pill, Blue Pill: Is the ­niverse Just a Giant Computer Simulation?
From ACM Opinion

Red Pill, Blue Pill: Is the ­niverse Just a Giant Computer Simulation?

I've started making my way (skeptically) through Ray Kurzweil’s How to Create a Mind, and at the recommendation of a friend, I've also started keeping tabs on ...

Best Inventions of the Year 2012
From ACM Opinion

Best Inventions of the Year 2012

That's not Photoshop.

'biology Is a Manufacturing Capability'
From ACM Opinion

'biology Is a Manufacturing Capability'

Soon we'll be able to engineer living things with mechanical precision, says Tom Knight, father of synthetic biology.

5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse
From ACM Opinion

5 Reasons We May Live in a Multiverse

The universe we live in may not be the only one out there. In fact, our universe could be just one of an infinite number of universes making up a "multiverse."

Neil Degrasse Tyson Helps His New 'bud' Superman Get a Glimpse of Home
From ACM Opinion

Neil Degrasse Tyson Helps His New 'bud' Superman Get a Glimpse of Home

DC Comics, Tyson explains, approached him for permission to use the Planetarium—as well as his likeness—in a story where Superman witnesses the destruction of Krypton...

Q&A: As Good As It Gets
From Communications of the ACM

Q&A: As Good As It Gets

Sanjeev Arora talks about proof, intractability, and finding the best way to approximate problems.

Alan Turing Remembered
From Communications of the ACM

Alan Turing Remembered

A unique firsthand account of formative experiences with Alan Turing.

Moods
From Communications of the ACM

Moods

Recognizing and working with moods — your own, your team's, and your customers' — is essential to professional success.

Can More Code Mean Fewer Bugs?
From Communications of the ACM

Can More Code Mean Fewer Bugs?

The bytes you save today may bite you tomorrow.
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