[Jean S]

Please explain to me why we should be competing with DU and DailyKos to help Stanford University.

I don't get it.

[papasmurf]

Here's one explanation...

What we are doing is NOT for...
Stanford
FreeRepublic
DU
Kos

...or anything BESIDES helping with research that has already given benefits that have impacted the lives of humans. THAT is why we do it.

The "competition" aspect is just an additional motivator.

Typing this on my pocket PC, please excuse any mistakes...

:O)

P

[Klutz Dohanger]

Please explain to me why we should be competing with DU and DailyKos to help Stanford University. I don't get it

The cause is a good one. We donate our excess CPU cycles, to perform complex mathematical calculations, which furthers research into mutant proteins, such as those believed to cause Alzheimers, various forms of cancer, Mad cow disease, and others.

Stanford University, are the ones who set his up as a competition, to encourage rivalry, and it was a great idea. Not only do you contribute to science, but you can measure your efforts, against those around the world, in an almost real time fashion.

We are NOT competing with DU and KOS... they think that they're competing with us. We're trying to get to the top 100, they're still muddling about around #6000, and think that we're just a bunch of befuddled old conservatives, who accidentally found computers, and a worthwhile program.

[Senator Bedfellow]

It's not really about helping Stanford per se. What this is is a large research project run by some researchers at Stanford, to study the chemistry of proteins and protein reactions. The idea is that they can use this information to someday treat diseases such as Alzheimers and the like.

Why do they need us? Because it's a massive project, much too massive for even the largest supercomputers to do much with. So, what they've done is split the work up into bite-sized pieces, and asked for volunteers to help with the project. Basically, what we all do is set our computers to work on these bite-sized chunks during the time that they'd otherwise be idle - idle time, because that way it doesn't really cost you anything or interfere with your normal computing. Then, after processing these chunks, your computer sends the results back to Stanford, and fetches another piece to work on.

But, in the spirit of friendly competition, the project creators at Stanford have created a point system, for users to track how much they've contributed to the project. The more computing time you allow them to borrow, the more points you can collect. Also, they've allowed users to form "teams" of contributors, where the team collects all the points for each of its members, and teams can compete as well. DU has a team, DKos has a team, and so forth.

It's really not about "helping Stanford" - except maybe in the same sense that donating time to the local soup kitchen or sending a check to the Red Cross is "helping" the soup kitchen or the Red Cross. The point is not to do it for Stanford, but to do it because this project has the possibility of yielding real medical benefits for people down the road.

Hope that helps! :)