RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
 ·XMission
| reply to T3h BiLL
Re: What are you guys doing?
said by T3h BiLL  :
So what is it doing with my computer? i dont get it all i see is molecules. Im not really helping find a cure when its just running a program like that. i dont get it
You have to understand what distributed computing is. In a nut shell, it is a bunch of processors running a tiny bit of code and data, that will eventually be combined with other tiny bits and pieces to give a meaningful result.
Imagine if you will 20 people doing a new driveway. Any one person does not look like he is doing any good, but when you look at them all, you see the driveway being built.
You are right, what you would be doing if you join us or another group is worthless when looked at out of context. It is a tiny fraction of a second of a partial protein action in a specific environment that might occur in real life. But you take all the processors and all the units we do and tie it together, you have a computer simulation of the complete reaction that cannot reasonably be done on any supercomputer without a large cost. We are using waste time that any PC that interfaces with a relatively slow organic organism (people) will have.
Since us organic organisms depend on (among other things) the correct response of proteins to avoid certain malfunctions, this is one way of exploring why those malfunctions take place in hopes of effecting a cure.
So if you expecting a huge rush like skiing a 5000 foot drop in 40 inches of fresh powder (or whatever you do for excitement), you will be disappointed, go elsewhere. If you just like to feel good knowing that you helped to either find a possible cure, extend knowledge, or even just eliminate a false hope, then this is something you can do.
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
