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How Tech Giants Are Devising Real Ethics For Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

How Tech Giants Are Devising Real Ethics For Artificial Intelligence

For years, science-fiction moviemakers have been making us fear the bad things that artificially intelligent machines might do to their human creators.

Here's How Russian Hackers Could Actually Tip an American Election
From ACM Opinion

Here's How Russian Hackers Could Actually Tip an American Election

Reports this week of Russian intrusions into U.S. election systems have startled many voters, but computer experts are not surprised.

Why Russian Hackers Probably Can't Mess with the ­.s. Election
From ACM Opinion

Why Russian Hackers Probably Can't Mess with the ­.s. Election

State-sponsored Russian hackers appear to be behind attacks on voter databases in Arizona and Illinois.

Orwell Was Right: Oliver Stone on What Makes Snowden Exciting
From ACM Opinion

Orwell Was Right: Oliver Stone on What Makes Snowden Exciting

Oliver Stone wants you to know he's not an activist.

How Electronic Voting Could ­ndermine the Election
From ACM Opinion

How Electronic Voting Could ­ndermine the Election

It's 2016: What possible reason is there to vote on paper? When we use touchscreens to communicate, work, and shop, why can't we use similar technology to vote?

The Hype, and Hope, of Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

The Hype, and Hope, of Artificial Intelligence

Earlier this month, on his HBO show "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver skewered media companies' desperate search for clicks.

All the Ways Your Wi-Fi Router Can Spy on You
From ACM News

All the Ways Your Wi-Fi Router Can Spy on You

City dwellers spend nearly every moment of every day awash in Wi-Fi signals.

20 Big Questions About the Future of Humanity
From ACM Opinion

20 Big Questions About the Future of Humanity

1. Does humanity have a future beyond Earth?

You'll Never Guess This One Crazy Thing Governs Online Speech
From ACM Opinion

You'll Never Guess This One Crazy Thing Governs Online Speech

Early last week, Twitter announced that it would be using new tools to curb hate speech and harassment on its site.

At 25, the World Wide Web Is Still a Long Way From Reality
From ACM Opinion

At 25, the World Wide Web Is Still a Long Way From Reality

Twenty-five years ago today, Tim Berners-Lee unleashed the World Wide Web, publishing the first public webpage. Well, maybe.

Obama's Science Legacy: Betting Big on Biomedical Science
From ACM Opinion

Obama's Science Legacy: Betting Big on Biomedical Science

When president-elect Barack Obama chose physicist John Holdren as his top science adviser in December 2008, some biomedical researchers worried that the pick signalled...

Space, Climate Change, and the Real Meaning of Theory
From ACM Opinion

Space, Climate Change, and the Real Meaning of Theory

I used to be an astronaut, a spacewalker on the International Space Station.

Why Facebook Is Really Blocking the Ad Blockers
From ACM Opinion

Why Facebook Is Really Blocking the Ad Blockers

Ads can seem like the bane of the Internet.

Mind-Controlled Robo-Skeleton Enables Paraplegics to Regain Some Motion
From ACM Opinion

Mind-Controlled Robo-Skeleton Enables Paraplegics to Regain Some Motion

Patients paralyzed by a spinal cord injury can face a grim and grueling recovery process—one in which regaining function is far from a sure thing. But a new study...

How to Read Between the Lines of Tim Cook's Epic Interview
From ACM Opinion

How to Read Between the Lines of Tim Cook's Epic Interview

To celebrate five years as CEO of Apple, Tim Cook has given a very long, exclusive interview to the Washington Post about his experiences so far. But what he didn’t...

Tim Cook: Running Apple 'is Sort of a Lonely Job'
From ACM Opinion

Tim Cook: Running Apple 'is Sort of a Lonely Job'

On a sleek white coffee table in Apple CEO Tim Cook's fourth-floor office in late July, beneath framed posters of Robert F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King...

The Brave New World of Robots and Lost Jobs
From ACM Opinion

The Brave New World of Robots and Lost Jobs

Job insecurity is a central theme of the 2016 campaign, fueling popular anger about trade deals and immigration. But economists warn that much bigger job losses...

What Virtual Reality Is Good For
From ACM Opinion

What Virtual Reality Is Good For

After years as a punchline, virtual reality is enjoying a renaissance. Venture capitalists plowed $1.2 billion into virtual-reality and augmented-reality startups...

All Alone in No Man's Sky
From ACM Opinion

All Alone in No Man's Sky

If reality is a game—a vast, snow-globe-y sort of experiment that plays out according to the hard rules of physics and the loose rules of story—then it is, in contemporary...

Marconi Forged Today's Interconnected World of Communication
From ACM Opinion

Marconi Forged Today's Interconnected World of Communication

At Guglielmo Marconi's grand state funeral in Rome in 1937—orchestrated with military-style pomp by the black-shirted Benito Mussolini—the largest wreath on the...
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