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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectComputers And Society
authorThe Atlantic
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The Not-So-Distant Future When We Can All ­pgrade Our Brains
From ACM Opinion

The Not-So-Distant Future When We Can All ­pgrade Our Brains

In a decade, cognitive enhancement may have gone mainstream.

If the Robots Kill ­s, It's Because It's Their Job
From ACM Opinion

If the Robots Kill ­s, It's Because It's Their Job

In the movie Transcendence, which opens in theaters on Friday, a sentient computer program embarks on a relentless quest for power, nearly destroying humanity in...

Captchas Are Becoming Security Theater
From ACM Opinion

Captchas Are Becoming Security Theater

CAPTCHAs are a time-worn way for humans to tell computers that we are human.

Google Wants to Make 'science Fiction' a Reality—and That's Limiting Their Imagination
From ACM Opinion

Google Wants to Make 'science Fiction' a Reality—and That's Limiting Their Imagination

Self-driving cars, extreme life extension, and global wifi provided by weather balloons: Google makes projects that sound like science fiction into reality at its...

How to Win $1 Billion on Ncaa Basketball: A Mathematician's Tips
From ACM Opinion

How to Win $1 Billion on Ncaa Basketball: A Mathematician's Tips

Last Thursday, the underground classroom at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York was filled to capacity for a college professor's PowerPoint-aided lecture...

There's No Real Difference Between Online Espionage and Online Attack
From ACM Opinion

There's No Real Difference Between Online Espionage and Online Attack

Back when we first started getting reports of the Chinese breaking into U.S. computer networks for espionage purposes, we described it in some very strong language...

Remembering Mit, When There Were Just 50 Women in a Class of 1,000
From ACM Opinion

Remembering Mit, When There Were Just 50 Women in a Class of 1,000

When Radia Perlman attended MIT in the late '60s and '70s, she was one of just a few dozen women (about 50) out of a class of 1,000.

The Joy of Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Facebook
From ACM Opinion

The Joy of Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Facebook

Over the last two decades, it can be argued, no area of study has seen larger growth in span and general application than computer science.

Everything We Know About How the Nsa Tracks People's Physical Location
From ACM News

Everything We Know About How the Nsa Tracks People's Physical Location

Glenn Greenwald is back reporting about the NSA, now with Pierre Omidyar's news organization FirstLook and its introductory publication, The Intercept.

When Will Genomics Cure Cancer?
From ACM Opinion

When Will Genomics Cure Cancer?

Since the beginning of this century, the most rapidly advancing field in the life sciences, and perhaps in human inquiry of any sort, has been genomics.

The Lost Ancestors of Ascii Art
From ACM Opinion

The Lost Ancestors of Ascii Art

ASCII art is as much a part of the Internet as emoticons, cats, or lol.

What If Your Autonomous Car Keeps Routing You Past Krispy Kreme?
From ACM Opinion

What If Your Autonomous Car Keeps Routing You Past Krispy Kreme?

On a future road trip, your robot car decides to take a new route, driving you past a Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop.

Why Google Bought Nest: A Theory
From ACM Opinion

Why Google Bought Nest: A Theory

Google is acquiring Nest, makers of a smart thermostat, for a reported $3.2 billion.

8 Hypotheses About Tech in 2014
From ACM Opinion

8 Hypotheses About Tech in 2014

If there was a feeling that defined the cultural backdrop for 2013, it was technoanxiety.

Stanford Researchers: It Is Trivially Easy to Match Metadata to Real People
From ACM Opinion

Stanford Researchers: It Is Trivially Easy to Match Metadata to Real People

In defending the NSA's telephony metadata collection efforts, government officials have repeatedly resorted to one seemingly significant detail: This is just metadata—numbers...

2013: The Year 'the Stream' Crested
From ACM Opinion

2013: The Year 'the Stream' Crested

The Stream has been the organizing metaphor for the web for the past several years.

Could a $500 Gadget Have Prevented the Metro-North Tragedy?
From ACM Opinion

Could a $500 Gadget Have Prevented the Metro-North Tragedy?

Investigators are still studying what caused the derailment of a Metro-North commuter train on its way to Grand Central Terminal just over a week ago, killing four...

All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines
From ACM Opinion

All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines

On the evening of February 12, 2009, a Continental Connection commuter flight made its way through blustery weather between Newark, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New...

The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think
From ACM Opinion

The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think

"It depends on what you mean by artificial intelligence."

The Battle For Power on the Internet
From ACM Opinion

The Battle For Power on the Internet

We're in the middle of an epic battle for power in cyberspace.
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