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dateMore Than a Year Ago
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The Princess Trap
From ACM Opinion

The Princess Trap

When my 4-year-old told me the other day that she was "ready for princesses," part of me died.

You Should Be Terrified of Superintelligent Machines
From ACM Opinion

You Should Be Terrified of Superintelligent Machines

In the recent discussion over the risks of developing superintelligent machines—that is, machines with general intelligence greater than that of humans—two narratives...

Singularity or Transhumanism: What Word Should We ­se to Discuss the Future?
From ACM Opinion

Singularity or Transhumanism: What Word Should We ­se to Discuss the Future?

Singularity. Posthuman. Techno-Optimism, Cyborgism. Humanity+. Immortalist. Machine intelligence. Biohacker. Robotopia. Life extension. Transhumanism.

Little Green Men Might Not Be So 'green'
From ACM Opinion

Little Green Men Might Not Be So 'green'

Humans are affecting the Earth’s systems on a global scale. Industrial pollutants are accumulating in our atmosphere with the potential for long-term impact on...

How to Terraform the Moon
From ACM Opinion

How to Terraform the Moon

Space fans were startled—and perhaps a little skeptical—in May when the Russians announced that they intend to build a manned moon base.

How Not to Build a Brain
From ACM Opinion

How Not to Build a Brain

Building a brain sounds like a worthy goal, one that makes it seem as though the future is within reach.

Coder's High
From ACM Opinion

Coder's High

These days I write more than I code, but one of the things I miss about programming is the coder's high: those times when, for hours on end, I would lock my vision...

Google's Eyes in the Sky
From ACM Opinion

Google's Eyes in the Sky

When Sergey Brin and Larry Page built the search engine that would become Google, they started by making maps.

Four Technology Fallacies That Need to Die
From ACM Opinion

Four Technology Fallacies That Need to Die

As any historian, psychologist, sociologist, or scientist will tell you, the truth of an idea has very little to do with how fast it spreads and how well it's believed...

Why Did the Justice Department Indict Five Chinese Military Officers?
From ACM Opinion

Why Did the Justice Department Indict Five Chinese Military Officers?

At first glance, the Justice Department's 31-count indictment of five Chinese military officers for hacking into the computers of six American corporations, in...

The Internet's History Isn’t As "open" As You Think
From ACM Opinion

The Internet's History Isn’t As "open" As You Think

This spring, the Federal Communications Commission is deciding how to regulate the "Open Internet"—a term it uses to refer to the movement for net neutrality.

I Didn't Type This Article
From ACM Opinion

I Didn't Type This Article

I'm dictating it to my iPhone as I walk down the busy city street on the way to my office in the West Village.

The Fuzzy Math Behind the Search For Mh370
From ACM Opinion

The Fuzzy Math Behind the Search For Mh370

Five weeks into the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, more than $30 million has been spent scouring great swatches of the southern Indian Ocean.

Can We Really ­pload Johnny Depp's Brain?
From ACM Opinion

Can We Really ­pload Johnny Depp's Brain?

When Wally Pfister's Transcendence is released on April 17, millions of moviegoers will be asking themselves, "Could we really upload Johnny Depp into a computer...

The Lewis Effect
From ACM Opinion

The Lewis Effect

Michael Lewis couldn't have timed it better if he'd tried.

Bots on the Beat
From ACM Opinion

Bots on the Beat

On March 24 at 2:36 p.m., the New York Post reported that the body of former Nets basketball player Quinton Ross had been found in a shallow grave on Long Island...

Language Barriers
From ACM Opinion

Language Barriers

The British scientist and polymath Stephen Wolfram has always had big ambitions.

What Do Data Brokers Know About Me?
From ACM Opinion

What Do Data Brokers Know About Me?

I once ran into a friend and her husband at the playground in our neighborhood in Manhattan.

The Weirdest Thing About the Apple Security Bug Is How Simple It Was
From ACM Opinion

The Weirdest Thing About the Apple Security Bug Is How Simple It Was

So for the past 18 months, there has been a horrific security hole in many of Apple's products that has allowed "man in the middle" attacks on supposedly secure...

Good Riddance to Mt. Gox
From ACM Opinion

Good Riddance to Mt. Gox

It is over. Mt. Gox, bitcoin’s oldest—and once its most popular—exchange, was taken offline Monday night, leaving behind angry customers and acrimonious debate...
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