A Leap from Artificial to Intelligence
I am astonished that people who know what computers can do, and, especially, how they do it, still think we (humankind) will ever create a rational being, much less that the day is near.
CACM Staff
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Start CS Students Off with Industry Best Practices
Lamenting that CS students are often not exposed to best practices in the classroom, Thomas A. Limoncelli offered advice for serving students better in "Four Ways to Make CS and IT More Immersive" (Oct. 2017). We agree with that sentiment.
"When Does Law Enforcement's Demand to Read Your Data Become a Demand to Read Your Mind?" (Sept. 2017) was an important contribution to the ongoing debate over electronic backdoors. I would like to outline several key aspects of that debate that also need to be addressed.
Hootsuite: In Pursuit of Reactive Systems
A discussion with Edward Steel, Yanik Berube, Jonas Bonér, Ken Britton, and Terry Coatta
In "The Science of Brute Force " (August 2017), Marjin J.H. Heule and Oliver Kullmann humorously asked whether a mathematician using brute force is really "a kind of barbaric monster."
Computational Thinking Is Not Necessarily Computational
I applaud Peter J. Denning's "Remaining Trouble Spots with Computational Thinking" (June 2017), especially for pointing out the subject itself is often characterized by "vague definitions and unsubstantiated claims."
Embed Ethical Guidelines in Autonomous Weapons
As a combat veteran and more recently an industry technologist and university professor, I have observed with concern the increasing automation — and dehumanization — of warfare, a trend discussed in the "Potential and Peril" (June 2017).
The Cerf's Up column "Social and Ethical Behavior in the Internet of Things" (Feb. 2017) by Francine Berman and Vinton G. Cerf was a welcome reminder of the importance of ethical issues involving sociotechnical systems in general and the Internet of Things in particular.
2009 ACM Prize recipient Eric Brewer, 2004 ACM A.M. Turing Award co-recipient Vint Cerf, 2016–2017 Athena Lecturer Jennifer Rexford, ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award recipient Martin Casado, ACM Fellows Nick Feamster and Jim Kurose, and ACM member George Roussos discuss the Internet of Things.
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