Letters: Fusion or solar? | Stanford caché | Family leave | AI writing | Require veterinarians

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Fusion money could bebetter spent on solar

Re. “Scientific history made in Livermore,” Page A1, Dec. 14:

For context, Lawrence Livermore Lab spent $3.5 Billion to create a reaction that generated all of 1.1 megajoules (.28Kwh) for a fraction of a second. My rooftop solar panels can generate up to 13.8 megajoules per hour (3.8Kwh).

As the authors of the article acknowledge, we are still decades from any practical use of this technology.

Maybe the Department of Energy should install solar on every rooftop? That would cost only a fraction of the continued research at Lawrence Livermore Labs.

And it would help to immediately eliminate global warming.

Don MahoneyMoraga

Will recent scandalscool Stanford boosters?

Is the era of the Stanford University young, wacky, arrogant tech tycoon over with the dynamic discombobulation wrought by Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fried?

A total of $9 billion and $32 billion down the tubes. Whew. Steve Jobs was real. These are frauds, But Jobs went to Reed College in Oregon. I wager that going forward an investor might hesitate on a Stanford alumnus/alumna-initiated venture and prefer a Berkeley Haas one.

Now Holmes doesn’t want to go to jail to serve a sentence, which is pretty reasonable considering the crime. One thing is for sure: Had I been responsible for the Theranos debacle, with my vast absence of powerful connections, I’m sure it would have been life in prison.

Jack KnutsonFremont

Senators have haltedpush for leave policy

Re. “Why does U.S. still have no paid parental leave policy?” Page A7, Dec. 15:

This headline was extremely misleading, and I’m sure Sara Hunter Simanson didn’t write it.

A better headline would have been something along the lines of what parents go through when their children, and they themselves, get sick. There was no explanation as to why the United States doesn’t have a paid parental leave policy. One needn’t go far, however, to discover the cause. Fifty Republicans and one Democrat in the U.S. Senate.

If you want programs like this to better the lives of you and your family, you now know for whom to vote.

Lisa RiggePleasanton

AI writing doesn’t haveto be great, just sensible

Re. “I’ll bet you didn’t write that — artificial intelligence robot did,” Page A7, Dec. 13:

Glenn Kramon misses the point entirely in his essay on the efficacy of the new Artificial Intelligence program capable of writing in a variety of styles. Perhaps in his extremely narrow purview of writing business emails and memos, the program is mediocre due to its lack of “warmth and individuality” and overuse of adverbs. Does he really believe that the middle or high school teachers sitting down with 100 essays to grade are basing their judgment on warmth?

Later in the article, Kramon admits that the program can produce a “sensible, fair-minded” opinion piece. I guarantee you that, today, essays are being submitted to teachers, written by the AI program, that will also be deemed sensible and fair-minded.

 

Lou AscatignoConcord

State should requireveterinarians at rodeos

Kudos to Los Angeles Times reporter Susanne Rust for her Dec. 7 horrific exposé of the injuries and deaths routinely suffered by animals in the state’s many rodeo arenas. Those injury reports are required by state law, Penal Code 596.7, the result of 1999 legislation sponsored by Action For Animals, carried by state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland. It seems clear that every state should have such a law, minimum.

In the 22 years of the law’s existence, not a single injury report came from a charreada, the Mexican-style rodeos common throughout California. Clearly, Penal Code 596.7 needs amending so as to drop the “on-call vet” option and require an on-site veterinarian at every rodeo and charreada in the state.

Surely this is the very least we owe the animals. Racetracks, horse shows and endurance rides all require on-site vets. So should all rodeos. Let your state legislators hear from you.

Eric MillsAction for AnimalsOakland