Distributed Computing

Way way way way back when ('99 or so), I signed up for SETI@Home. For those familiar, skip to the next graf. SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In short, SETI collects data from radio telescopes around the world. The data is then analyzed for anomalous signals - stuff that's not just part of the background noise of space. The problem that SETI ran into was the volume of data they had to work with - there was simply too much data and not enough computing power to run through it. Unfortunately, I can't find any specific numbers. Suffice it to say that a needle in a thousand haystacks only begins to tell the story. One day, a couple of guys figured out that instead of trying to parse all the data on one big computer, why not use a bunch of smaller computers? The idea of distributed computing had obviously been around before, mainly to do things like factor 100 digit numbers and "prove that there isn’t a 19-mark Golomb ruler shorter than 246 units". Whatever that means. Anywho, SETI created a little downloadable app that ran as a screensaver. The app would download a chunk of data to the local user's machine, process it and then upload the chunk back to SETI's servers. It then picked up the next chunk in the queue and continued. As of today, SETI@Home has utilized 2,183,255 years of computer processing. Two Millenia. Each day, over a thousand more years of computer processing time is used.

Welcome back to those familiar with SETI@Home. The thing is, SETI@Home proved that this is a viable model for working through huge amounts of data. A few years back, other projects started popping up. Gateway even put together a business model for reselling distributed computing services by utilizing all of the unused CPU hours on their demo models in their brick and mortar stores. Pretty slick idea, though I haven't heard much more about it since.

I've been a SETI@Home participant for quite a while and processed a ton of data units. I still support the program and encourage anyone interested in signing up. However, I've now switched my home computer over to a different app: the World Community Grid. Instead of scanning the sky for ETI, this app is folding proteins in the hopes of discovering new ways to fight virii, cancers, and genetic defects. From their site:

World Community Grid is focusing on a project key to advancing our knowledge of human disease. By identifying the proteins that make up the Human Proteome, scientists can build the understanding needed for novel and effective treatments for diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS, SARS, and malaria.

There have been - and are - other apps with this same goal. In fact, I've installed a different one on a long lost workstation before. This is just the one that I came across most recently and won by virtue of being the first one I found after getting a new home computer.

With regards to switching from SETI@Home to the WCG, I simply feel that this application has a greater chance for an immediate benefit. I still have SETI@Home running on my machine at work, so I haven't given up completely on the little green men. But given the choice between curing cancer and finding alien intelligence.... Actually, that's a damn tough decision.