would love to help on the folding project but my farms output is spread between the medical MDCP predictor (similar to folding in the protien aspect) and seti
Predictor@home: investigate protein-related diseases
Rosetta@home: help researchers develop cures for human diseases
Cell Computing biomedical research (Japanese; requires nonstandard client software)
World Community Grid: advance our knowledge of human disease.

four other medical based mass distributed computing projects of possible interest to any potential data crunchers
the link i posted in the boincing thread lists the above projects urls

cmon guys whether folding or one of the others its only SPARE cpu cycles they use

I'm using the SETI thing, because I like the opening scene of Independence Day (as well as the whole movie).

I'm also using PlayingCounterStrike@Home and BurningDVDs@Home to use my CPU cycles.

The Lancers Reactor has a team memebership there.

ie Folding@home

Edited by - Spix on 1/28/2006 10:12:28 AM

I can see the potential of the Folding@Home project but I fail to see the point of SETI, since i don't believe in aliens.

Wha...?

You don't believe in aliens, as in intelligent aliens? Or just alien life in general? Either way, taking into account the factors deemed necessary for life to exist there's an almost 100% chance of life existing elsewhere in the universe. It may be, and probably is, far enough away that we will never discover it for centuries, millenia even, but to dismiss the existence of alien life altogether seems a little...narrow-minded?

I meant i don't think they're visiting us or anywhere nearby. I dare say somewhere out *there* there's something, but it ain't likely to turn up anytime soon (if ever)

and i thought pete was proof of alien intelligence
my theory is if we dont look how will we know ?

and if you did find something and it turned out to be have big teeth n claws n spaceships and ate the Earth? whose fault would that be? yours, Geoff; I'd blame you.

there is a serious side to this point. All you bright-eyed alien-lovers assume that aliens would be friendly and advanced. How the hell can you assume that and aren't you being a bit naive (and irresponsible) broadcasting our location* into the aether? Bearing in mind that our own history repeatedly shows what happens to less technologically advanced civilisations when they are contacted by more technologically advanced civilisations. At best we might end up as an impoverished colony, or we just might end up being raped and left for dead.

and then of course there's the money; how many hospitals or schools could be funded with the money that's wasted on trying to contact aliens? if it's a choice between detecting some radio pulse from the Quaylor Galaxy that always turns out to be some blowed-up star, or buying a dialysis machine, I'd choose the dialysis machine. You lot have had 50 years of radio astronomy to find aliens and so far you've found nothing. Time to pack up i think and go and do something more useful.

bah, space humbug. I'm more concerned about my bin collection going down to once every fortninght than I am about aliens turning up, even if they turned out to be TV friendly ETs bringing goodies.

*I'm well aware that radio signals do this anyway but there's a difference to aliens accidentally tuning into Mork & Mindy and deliberate messages saying where we are and what we're capable of (or not) We should be thankful that if there are any aliens, they're a long way off, and let's keep it that way.

pete there has been one signal commonly known as the wow signal detected in the 70s
as for finding anything thats all seti will do its a passive project ie. we arent sending out signals ourselves ,just looking
as for big teeth ad claws ,sounds like a hen night in newcastle

I bet you £50 there's no alien contact in our lifetimes.

No bet. I'd go for something closer to 1,000 years for anything more advanced than microbial life. Or maybe 10,000 - what the hell, none of you guys will be aound to collect the money anyway.

says you yea

trouble with that bet taw is to win you cant collect "our lifetime "
you need to be dead to win
i never said it was or was unlikely ,but may as well look

that's ok you can give me the money now!

..or your boat. In fact, if your aliens do turn up, i'll tell them that your boat is the centre of anti-alien resistance and then they'll give it to me as a reward for turning you in, hyuk-hyuk! I'll be pootling around the coast while you toil in the sugar-mines for our new alien overlords....

Edited by - Tawakalna on 1/30/2006 3:30:52 AM