Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2017
From ACM Opinion
DeepMind's Founder Says to Build Better Computer Brains, We Need to Look at Our Own
After decades in the wilderness, AI has swaggered back onto center stage.
From ACM Opinion
Quantum Teleportation Is Even Weirder Than You Think
A BBC headline last week, 'First object teleported to Earth's orbit', has to be one of the most fantastical you'll see this year. For once, it seems the future that science fiction promised has arrived! Or has it?
From ACM Opinion
How China Tames Dissent on the Internet
Chinese government leaders, subtle masters of propaganda, seem to have discovered a Sun Tzu formula for taming dissent on the Internet: The best strategy may not be to confront critics directly, but to lull or distract them with…
From ACM Opinion
When Companies Get Hacked, Should They Be Allowed to Hack Back?
There is an old debate (at least, counting in internet years) that tends to crop up after major cybersecurity breaches such as the widespread WannaCry ransomware attack in May.
From ACM Opinion
AI Could Revolutionize War As Much As Nukes
In 1899, the world's most powerful nations signed a treaty at The Hague that banned military use of aircraft, fearing the emerging technology's destructive power.
From ACM Opinion
Is Anyone Home? A Way to Find Out If AI Has Become Self-Aware
Every moment of your waking life and whenever you dream, you have the distinct inner feeling of being "you."
From ACM Opinion
Spreading Fake News Becomes Standard Practice for Governments Across the World
Campaigns to manipulate public opinion through false or misleading social media postings have become standard political practice across much of the world, with information ministries, specialized military units and political …
From ACM Opinion
The Russians Will Be Back. Will We Be Ready?
In recent days, our nation's response to the continued threat of foreign meddling in American elections has taken something of a surprising turn.
From ACM Opinion
Please Prove You're Not a Robot
When science fiction writers first imagined robot invasions, the idea was that bots would become smart and powerful enough to take over the world by force, whether on their own or as directed by some evildoer.
From ACM Opinion
Information Technology: A Digital Genius at Play
The US mathematician and electrical engineer Claude Shannon, whose life spanned the tumultuous, technologically explosive twentieth century, is often called the father of information theory.
From ACM Opinion
Why Haven't Reporters Mass-Adopted Secure Tools for Communicating With Sources?
In the months since Donald Trump took office, Washington has been leaking like a sieve.
From ACM Opinion
Why Robots Won't Steal All Our Jobs
Don't worry. The robots won't destroy all our jobs. History suggests just the opposite—that new technologies inspire new jobs.
From ACM Opinion
Students are Better Off without a Laptop in the Classroom
As recent high school graduates prepare for their migration to college in the fall, one item is sure to top most students' shopping wish lists: a laptop computer.
From ACM Opinion
Teddy Roosevelt Wouldn't Understand the E.U.'s Antitrust Fine Against Google
Back in 1980, Milton Friedman, the University of Chicago economist, starred in a public-television series called "Free to Choose," in which he presented his free-market ideas and, famously, told a young man that everything he…
From ACM Opinion
Asimov's Laws Won't Stop Robots Harming Humans So We've Developed a Better Solution
How do you stop a robot from hurting people?
From ACM Opinion
It's Time to Make Code More Tinker-Friendly
We need new tools that let everyone see, understand, and remix today's web. We need, in other words, to reboot the culture of View Source.
From ACM Opinion
Donald Trump's 'Impenetrable Cybersecurity' Is Pure Fantasy
Nothing connected to the internet is safe from hackers. And I mean nothing.
From ACM Opinion
Could a Robot Be President?
President Donald Trump reportedly spends his nights alone in the White House, watching TV news and yelling at the screen.
From ACM Opinion
Who Do We Think We Are?
"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee; Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow; Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me."
From ACM Opinion
In Reporting on North Korea, Tech Helps Break Through Secrecy
How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Choe Sang-Hun, The Times's Korea correspondent who is based in Seoul, discusses the tech he's using.
From ACM Opinion
The President of Search Giant Baidu Has Global Plans
Google and Facebook are household names around the world. Baidu? Not yet. Ya-Qin Zhang, president of China's leading search business, says Chinese companies can become worldwide Internet powerhouses too.
From ACM Opinion
AI Will Make Forging Anything Entirely Too Easy
"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," said an exasperated James Comey in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8. Comey's desire reflects a familiar one for individuals accused of lying when the stakes are…
From ACM Opinion
A Reality Check for IBM's AI Ambitions
Paul Tang was with his wife in the hospital just after her knee replacement surgery, a procedure performed on about 700,000 people in the U.S. every year.
From Communications of the ACM
Unknowns of the Gig-Economy
Seeking multidisciplinary research into the rapidly evolving gig-economy.
From Communications of the ACM
The Beginner's Creed
We all need to learn to be expert beginners.
From Communications of the ACM
The Informal Guide to ACM Fellow Nominations
Recommendations for a successful nomination process.
From Communications of the ACM
Cryptovirology: The Birth, Neglect, and Explosion of Ransomware
Recent attacks exploiting a known vulnerability continue a downward spiral of ransomware-related incidents.
Coding in Schools as New Vocationalism: Larry Cuban on What Schools Are For
07.18.2017What are schools for, and is coding a necessary part of that?
Deep Dictionary
06.20.2017The abstraction from big data on English words of distributed vector representations computing simple semantic aspects has drawn interest from …
CS Education on Tablets for CS for All (#Tablets4CS for #CSforAll)
06.15.2017If we design CS education for tablets, everyone will learn better.
DeepMind's Founder Says to Build Better Computer Brains, We Need to Look at Our Own
07.20.2017After decades in the wilderness, AI has swaggered back onto …
Beijing Wants AI to Be Made in China by 2030
07.20.2017The country laid out a development plan on Thursday to …
New Algorithm, Metrics Improve Autonomous Underwater Vehicles' Energy Efficiency
07.20.2017Researchers have built a framework for autonomous underwater vehicles that …