Communications of the ACM
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…
From ACM Opinion
Greetings, E.T. (Please Don't Murder Us.)
On Nov. 16, 1974, a few hundred astronomers, government officials and other dignitaries gathered in the tropical forests of Puerto Rico's northwest interior, a...
From ACM Opinion
What Happened to Trump's War on Data?
On May 16, three months' worth of data vanished quietly from the website of the U.S. Census Bureau.
From ACM Opinion
Zuckerberg and Musk Are Both Wrong About AI
Back in 2015, a group of business leaders and scientists published an "open letter" about how controlling artificial superintelligence might be the most urgent...
From ACM Opinion
Metrology Is Key to Reproducing Results
Imagine you are a policymaker who needs to know how much carbon is stored in the South American forest.
From ACM Opinion
Letting Cyberattack Victims Hack Back is a Very Unwise Idea
As the rate of cybercrime increases, so too does the intensity of those attacks.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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