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  • #1

    Google Compute

    Google is allowing Google Toolbar users to loan out their spare CPU cycles to help with Folding@Home and other distributed computing projects:

    http://toolbar.google.com/dc/

    Google Compute is a new feature of the Google Toolbar. The goal of Google Compute is to make a contribution to science by enabling Google Toolbar users to easily donate their idle computer time to worthwhile causes. The Google Compute version of the Google Toolbar detects when a computer is idle and puts it to work on complex mathematical problem from such fields as drug design and global climate modeling.
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    Tags: None
  • #2
    Not necessarily opposing the idea. However:

    Originally posted by Google
    The goal of Google Compute is to make a contribution to science by enabling Google Toolbar users to easily donate their idle computer time to worthwhile causes.
    I would like to know what 'worthwhile causes' are in this context ahead of loaning out my cycles.

    Comment

    • #3
      Originally posted by skroo
      I would like to know what 'worthwhile causes' are in this context ahead of loaning out my cycles.
      Well, the folding project deals with taking various chains of existing amino acid chains to "fold" them into new structures for proteins/enzymes with the same amino acid strand where each formation has different properties, and potential for different activation sites for enzymes with the same amino acid sequence.

      For many years, companies were applying for patents on new proteins, and claimed a "deafult" use such as "pet food" (so as to lock in IP ownership of new proteins in case something of value was found in that protein. Later disagreement (I think) forced the patent people in government to require patent applications for proteins to be very specific on use, to allow for many patents on the same proteins based on applications.

      [Now that people have stopped reading, I can wear my tinfoil hat. I AM COT-HOLIO! ]:>

      Then there are other projects like SETI@Home, where people are looking for furry little ET like tribbles, Robin Williams (from Mork and mindy) or Dennis Rodman. In reality, this is a project designed to search for Klingons, or Predators.
      War against humans is no longer PC, as people are finding it tougher to demonify fellow humans based on nationality. There is hope to find aliens so we can declare war on them to better stimulate the economy of our new world order.

      If you don't want to help start interstellar wars, then there is always the distributed.net project where the NSA secretly funds this group to break your PGP key and steal all of your secrets as stored on your computer.

      The chinese are also funding the uber-secret "CPU in every toaster, TV, VCR, DVR, Digital Camera, car, pacemaker, wristwatch, .*" which are part of their own "spare CPU cycles" program to try to figure out that number used in the movie "Pi" that can predict the future and stock market numbers.
      With this, some say they will know what people will cause them problems and find ways to eliminate them.
      Others say they will use this to create a whole new line of O-day-minus-one DVD releases with director commentary long before the actors are hired for the movie. This way, they will be able to claim copyright before we can, and make DVD-knock-offs legal.

      Comment

      • #4
        Worthwhile projects would be eliminating world hunger, finding a cure for cancer, MS, Muscular Distrophy, mental illness, and etc., and making the cures for these diseases affordable to the masses. When the internet first came into being I viewed it as a positive thing. I could see scientists from all over the world with a forum in which to collaborate and to find answers to the problems that face mankind. Unfortunately it has been corrupted to the point where it is little more than a marketplace for spammers who wish to sell potions to enhance everybodies manhood or boobs. As far as the SETI@home project is concerned, I can't really see any aliens with the intelligence to contact this miserable planet actually lowering their standards in order to do so. Unless it is a race of mentally challenged blonds. Any project that would help governments to catalog people in order to restrict their freedom is not in any way, shape or form worthwhile. Excluding of course, listings of criminals or terrorists which would help to protect the general populace. I don't think that I would have any use for a toolbar that would use my idle CPU time in order to make someone else rich (pharmacutical companies) or to help to restrict the freedoms of my fellow citizens. That's just my opinion....
        I enjoy talking to myself...it's usually the only intelligent conversations I get to have.

        Comment

        • #5
          Folding@Home is really about finding the folding pathways and kinetics of various one dimensional strings of amino acids which, once combined, fold up into a varied assortment of three dimensional structures due to the effects of Gibbs free energy. This requires that each amino acid be simulated atom by atom in order for the simulation to be accurate.

          It's also what the BlueGene/L and BlueGene/P supercomputers are and will be studying. BlueGene/P will be the most powerful supercomputer in the world with over a PetaFLOPS of power when completed in 2007, so I'm not sure how much sense the Folding@Home project will really be.

          Understanding protein folding will help us treat a variety of genetic disorders by understanding how proteins arising from mutant genes behave. That's just one of many potential benefits, however. It will also give us much, much deeper insight into molecular biology.
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          Comment

          • #6
            Originally posted by bascule
            Understanding protein folding will help us treat a variety of genetic disorders by understanding how proteins arising from mutant genes behave. That's just one of many potential benefits, however. It will also give us much, much deeper insight into molecular biology.
            Direct application of this technology may allow for future FDA fast-tracking of GM (Genetically Modified) foods by comparing new proteins found in GM food to previous speices, so those proteins new in GM foods can be isolated and test for allergic reactions, or digestion issues in humans.

            Though I agree, there are applications in medicine for examination of amino acid chain folding, and understanding where changes in amino acid sequences have little effect or significant effect to the resulting form (and function) , I would not be surprised to find GM food industry supporting this too.

            There is controversy in how this mature technology may be (ab)used.

            Comment

            • #7
              So my spare computer cycles go to - amino acids? I may as well send a cash donation to Zimbabwe. There is no way I will see anything from it.

              How about coding extra cycles to help:
              -Lower gas prices
              -Lower federal tax rates
              -Finding lost pets
              -Offset the price of software
              -Make Defcon free
              -Eliminate commercials from television
              -Make high speed Internet free.

              I mean c'mon, let's have something we all want! I'm going to keep my extra cycles just based on that fact alone. Plus, it's my electricity.

              Comment

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