What would you say to someone?

[russkris]

Ok what would you say to someone to explain DF and all the other clients.
Question you might consider:

1. What is it?
2. What the point?
3. What do you get out of it?
4. Would the hurt the computer, having it running like that all the time?
5. What a protein?

Now I know some of the answer so ppl are going to say already, Like:
Maybe you'll find a cure for some childs disease. No it wont hurt your pooter.
I just wanna find out what ppl are thinking. What question did you have in your mind, when you first found out about DFolding..

[wirthi]

Originally posted by russkris
Ok what would you say to someone to explain DF and all the other clients.
Question you might consider:

1. What is it?
2. What the point?
3. What do you get out of it?
4. Would the hurt the computer, having it running like that all the time?
5. What a protein?

Now I know some of the answer so ppl are going to say already, Like:
Maybe you'll find a cure for some childs disease. No it wont hurt your pooter.
I just wanna find out what ppl are thinking. What question did you have in your mind, when you first found out about DFolding.. Hmm .. let's try it out:

1: What is it
It's a program running on your PC helping to solve a mystery of science. You won't be interfered by what it does you shouldn't even notice it's there.

2: What the point?
To help solve that mystery, to create new drugs, to improve science

3: What do you get out of it?
Sorry, no money :D Perhaps the honor of having helped at a project that WAS able to solve that mystery, if it is solved. For now you only get fun, community, technical knowledge, and so on ... a shame to write "you ONLY get" here ...

4: Would the hurt the computer, having it running like that all the time?
Tough question. Does it hurt your car if you drive fast for a long time over a highway. Probably not, that's what it is built for. On the other hand it is more likely to have a crash if you drive more often. More CPU-stress means killing your CPU sooner. I personally have killed no part of my PC due to DC yet, and I've been participating 24/7 on 2-3 PCs for several years now.

Short answer: unlikely, but possible.

5: What a protein?
I think it's what living cells are made of. Maybe somebody else can clarify things here.

HTH,
Wirthi

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

)Dictionary Definintion:
Protien noun Any class of highly complex nitrogenous organic compounds occuring naturally in all living matter, and forming an essential part of animal food requirements. These are composed principally of amino acids in varying combinations, and are usually classified as: simple (hydrolyzed only by enzymes or acids into alpha-amino acids or their deriviatives); conjungated (simple proteins combined with non-protiens in a form other than a salt); derived (obtianed by the action of heat, enzymes, or reagents upon naturally occuring protiens).

Amino Acid Any of a group of organic compounds having the type formula NH2.R.COOH and forming an essential part of the protien molecule.
Amino Acids can be derieved from Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) via messanger ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) each Amino Acid is made up of 3 mRNA base units. Base units are Adenasine, Cytasine, Guenine & Uracil (Thorasil in DNA) each DNA pairing is thus A-T C-G G-C T-A or > A-U & U-A in RNA...
(sorry about the duff spelling - it's years since I had to remember how to spell stuff like that - hope this clears things up :rotfl: )

[Nexus]

1. what is it?

Hmmmmm. I'm assuming you're asking for specifics on distributed computing in general. Here goes: In DC projects, typically you download a program that runs in the background and processes a small part of a larger task. For example, the famous SETI project aims to scan the whole sky for alien signals. You, the user, would be sent a work unit that consists of everything picked up by the telescope at one tiny patch of sky. Your computer analyzes that WU for alien signals and sends the results back to the project headquarters. While one computer can't do the whole sky alone, hundreds of thousands of them can.

Another example: the project I'm running (DPAD- Muon neutrino) aims to design an efficient particle accelerator to study the properties of subatomic particles called neutrinos, which is difficult because they have virtually no interactions with matter. The accelerator will fire a beam of neutrinos through the Earth itself to get something to happen. Anyways, the DPAD project simulates a part of the accelerator and gradually works out how to position the components so that it works best. Your computer generates a possible design for the component in question and analyzes it; when you've done ten or so you send the results off.

I haven't run the Folding client so I can't explain anything about it.

2. What is the point

Sometimes there are things science cannot answer easily. Some problems just can't be tackled except by brute force and a lot of hard work. This is where distributed computing is king.

When you are running your computer, 95% of the time it is doing nothing. When you have a DC client running, all that time is no longer going to waste. Multiply that by the millions and millions of computers around the world and it is not hard to see that all that computing power is a tremendous resource. I feel almost duty-bound to do my bit.

3. what do you get out of it

Nothing material. You get the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile, and that's an underrated pleasure. If you contribute to the design of an anti-cancer drug and that drug saves people's lives, you have every right to feel good about it.

Also, it was seen early on in the DC era that people care more about donating their computer time if they can join teams and compete with others around the world. Free-DC is just such a team. You'll probably have hours of entertainment watching the team spank the butts of the others. ;)

4. would it hurt the computer?

I don't really know. Maybe if you crank the juice up and leave it on 24/7 you could cause overheating, but usually the cimputer just turns itself off. I wouldn't think you'd have to worry if you just have your client on in the background and use your computer normally.

5. What is a protein

Gopher_Y's answer says it all really, except to say that a protein looks sort of like a bead necklace all scrunched up into a ball.