Opinion

From Athens To Artificial Intelligence (AI): Thinking Revolutions Are Still Blooming In Education

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By Mark MacInnes
Los Alamos

By Socrates, in the fifth century BC, engaged Athens’ young intellectuals in the agora, the public square, with provocative ‘little questions’ like: ‘What is truth?’ When questioned in this manner, some influential critics, including city leaders, were distressed by the rhetoric, which ultimately led to Socrates’s trial and execution. He died defending the principle of free inquiry into any idea, regardless of how sacred it may seem.

Plato, one of Socrates’ students, preserved some of Socrates’ dialogues not because they reached conclusions Read More

Op-Ed: Present Scale Of Electrification Unprecedented

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By RICK NEBEL
Los Alamos

This letter is a comment on two of the op-ed pieces that appeared in last week’s Los Alamos Daily Post: Robert Gibson’s article (link) and Paul Gessing’s article (link). Mr. Gibson pointed out that electrification is nothing new. However, the present scale of it is unprecedented. Mr. Gessing pointed this out in his article. He congratulated the governor for getting commitments to bring 3 new AI data centers to New Mexico.

The interesting part is that just 1 of those data centers consumes about 7 GW. I don’t have firm numbers on this, but the present total consumption Read More

Thanks To Community Support, The Future Of Our Local Independent Bookstore May Be Bright

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Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse at 174 Central Park Square. Courtesy photo

By LACDC Executive Director Lauren McDaniel
Los Alamos MainStreet & Creative District’s Jacquelyn Connolly
Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce’s Sandy Jones

The Los Alamos community has shown an outpouring of support for Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse over the last week since owner Jill Lang’s letter earlier this month about her probable closure. This support, not only through words of encouragement but also through active consumer spending, hasn’t gone unnoticed by the owner. Please, keep this momentum going Read More

Gibson: Electrification Is Not New

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BY ROBERT GIBSON
Chair
Los Alamos County Board of Public Utilities

Electrification is the conversion to electric power of devices or processes that previously used other forms of energy. Today, the term commonly refers to conversions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from burning hydrocarbon fuels. That is not the only motivation. It may not even be the biggest.

Americans have been electrifying since Edison’s first “grid” in the early 1880s. Electric lights replaced oil lamps and candles. Electric motors replaced muscle power. Electric refrigerators replaced ice boxes. The list is endless. Read More

Myers: Local Connection To Gaza’s Suffering And Pain

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Yousef Aljamal
Writer and human rights worker

By KELLY MYERS
Los Alamos

This past summer, our community’s Free Palestine Summer Series brought diverse speakers to Los Alamos. One of the presenters was Dr. Yousef Aljamal, a writer, human rights worker, and refugee from Gaza, who joined us remotely.

Today, we share an update about our friend, Yousef, not as an expert speaker, but as a heartbroken brother and uncle. On Sept. 27, while living in exile in Turkey, he woke to the news that an Israeli missile had struck his family home in Gaza. The strike killed nine of his immediate family members Read More

Fuselier: Life, Art, And God

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By ROBERT FUSELIER
Los Alamos 

Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? This question can stimulate a lot of discussion for us humans with our dualistic minds. Is the artwork a reflection of reality by the artist, or does the artwork influence the reality of the viewer? I’ll save my answer until later. Until then, I’m going to take my shot at being a film critic.

The latest of the Knives Out Mystery series, Wake Up Dead Man, would likely fit into the category where art imitates life. I guess the life-imitates-art counterpoint is dependent upon how the audience responds. Rather than delving into Read More

What AI Can Do — And What It Can’t: Share Your Thoughts!

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Los Alamos Daily Post News:

Is AI actually helpful? Scroll to see…

• What generative AI does well
• When it can meaningfully support your work
• When it’s the wrong tool to rely on

AI is most effective when it amplifies human expertise—not when it tries to replace it.                                                                                                             

Did this help you feel more informed? Take our short survey and share your perspective. Read More

National Academies: DOE Should Develop AI-Based Foundation Models Fused With Traditional Computational Methods To Bring Paradigm Shift To Scientific Discovery

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National Academies News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examines how the U.S. Department of Energy could use foundation models for scientific research, and finds fusing these models with traditional computational methods could bring a paradigm shift to scientific discovery. The report makes recommendations for how the agency can pursue increased use of such models in research. 

Foundation models are large-scale AI neural networks that are trained on vast amounts of data—often trillions of individual data points—and Read More

Review: DALA’s ‘Sugar Plum On The Hill’ A Holiday Delight!

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A scene from DALA’s ‘Sugar Plum on the Hill Part III The Mysterious March’ Friday at Duane Smith Auditorium. Performances continue at 2 p.m. today, Dec. 6 and 2 p.m. Sunday. Dec. 7. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com

A scene from DALA’s ‘Sugar Plum on the Hill Part III The Mysterious March’. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com

Review by ALISON WATKINS 
Los Alamos

It wouldn’t be Christmas in Los Alamos without The Nutcracker, and for the last decade that tradition has taken the form of Dance Arts Los Alamos (DALA) Artistic Director Jonathan Guise’s award-winning trilogy, Nutcracker on Read More

Opportunities To Share Feedback On ‘Have Your Say’ Page

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COUNTY News:

eComment tool: Los Alamos County launched in August 2024 an eComment tool designed to enhance public engagement for County Council meetings. The eComment function allows individuals to submit online public comments for upcoming Council meetings once the agenda is published, typically the Friday before the meeting.

Online comments may be submitted until noon on the day of the Council meeting, and copies will be provided to each councilor before the start of the meeting and become part of the public record. This tool enables residents to participate from anywhere.

To submit a Read More