Guest Anticontrame Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Hi all. I need help from some willing atheists/agnostics. (Actually, everyone should get in on this. You don't HAVE to join our team.) Some of you might have heard about a distributed computing project called Folding@Home. It's a Stanford-based project to help better understand diseases with the aid of people who are willing to volunteer their spare computer cycles. All you have to do is download and install the client, and without you ever noticing, your computer will simulate protein folding with the extra resources that would otherwise go to waste. See the FAQ for more info. If you have a PS3, you probably noticed that it came pre-installed. (PS3s really kick butt at folding.) Anyway, the reason I'm posting here is that in addition to helping out humanity, you can also use FaH to join a group and compete against other organizations. Our group, The Godless Ones, is currently placed at 219th out of 116,000 or so, but according to our stats page, we're on track to be overtaken in about two and a half weeks. The group that's on our heels is Nerds for Jesus, and we really can't let that happen. I've already tried to recruit a few folks from the Richard Dawkins forums, but it doesn't look like we gained much more than five volunteers there. I was racking my brain and I realized that some of the folks here might be a little more dedicated to keeping us ahead of the Nerds for JC. Anyhow, if you're able to help out, just download and install the client, give yourself a name, and enter team 34395. After you submit your first work unit you should be able to see yourself on the team summery. Oh, and if you want to see what the Nerds for Jesus are saying about us, check it out here and here. Well I'm off to bed. Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm_christ Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 looks like a good cause, and best of luck. unfortunatly i am using college computers so i cant be of too much help. :> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Personally, I think that the effort to simulate protein folding on computers is, by and large, a waste of time. And “molecular biology†increasingly strikes me as an oxymoron. So count me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comanche Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Cool deal. I'm in. Plus, free screensaver that doesn't come with a million different viruses! Yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpha centauri Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Cool! I have a PS3, and haven't done this yet. On a sidenote, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of those Nerds for Jesus fall by the wayside in the not too distant future. If they'd really read their Bibles and see the lunacy of their god, that would be a start down the road to apostasy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Thanks for the help, guys. We've moved them back to almost three weeks since my earlier post. Legion: The project is actually getting results. Our combined efforts give them an extremely fast computer, faster than any supercomputer, and that allows these simulations to model reality extremely accurately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Anticontrame are you familiar with the work of theoretical biologist Robert Rosen? I am still trying to understand his work, but he says that simulations and models are not the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Anticontrame are you familiar with the work of theoretical biologist Robert Rosen? I am still trying to understand his work, but he says that simulations and models are not the same thing. No, I've never heard of him. What is his argument? From what I can glean from google, it seems that people are interpreting his argument to mean that life is somehow outside of the laws of physics, but I have a feeling that that's not the full story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 No, I've never heard of him. What is his argument? From what I can glean from google, it seems that people are interpreting his argument to mean that life is somehow outside of the laws of physics, but I have a feeling that that's not the full story. I think that is probably a misinterpretation of his work. I think his main argument is that the machine metaphor in biology is a mistake. He argues that organisms are not machines. But Rosen said explicitly that he thought that there was nothing about organisms that was "unphysical", only that physics was, as yet, unable to account for their behavior. This site here by Tim Gwinn seems the best to me for getting an overview of Rosen's work... http://www.panmere.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 No, I've never heard of him. What is his argument? From what I can glean from google, it seems that people are interpreting his argument to mean that life is somehow outside of the laws of physics, but I have a feeling that that's not the full story. I think that is probably a misinterpretation of his work. I think his main argument is that the machine metaphor in biology is a mistake. He argues that organisms are not machines. But Rosen said explicitly that he thought that there was nothing about organisms that was "unphysical", only that physics was, as yet, unable to account for their behavior. This site here by Tim Gwinn seems the best to me for getting an overview of Rosen's work... http://www.panmere.com/ Hmm. I don't understand how that would relate to the folding project then. If life is bound by physical laws, then the misfolding of a protein is still going to result in a disease, even if you can't understand the behavior of animals in terms of physics. Finding a cure would still benefit them. My personal opinion is that life is an emergent function of mechanistic physical interactions (with a bit of apparent randomness thrown in), most of which are observable to us, but I don't see how that's relevant to folding proteins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 It has passing relevance I think. At the end of Rosen's book Life Itself he suggests a different approach to modeling protein folding. And in any case, I recommend the book to any serious student of biology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I was using mine for SETI at Home for ages til I had to get a new computer. Here's a question. I play World of Warcraft and am in the second top guild on my server. We do end-game. Would I have to worry about this causing lag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I was using mine for SETI at Home for ages til I had to get a new computer. Here's a question. I play World of Warcraft and am in the second top guild on my server. We do end-game. Would I have to worry about this causing lag? Yeah, I used to do the SETI thing too until I found FaH. It shouldn't cause lag. It will use your internet connection to send and receive work units, but the vast majority of the time is just spent crunching numbers locally. If you're really worried about it, you can specifically tell the program to ask you before sending/receiving when you run the installation. (In the console version anyway. I've never tried installing the screensaver version.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 W00t! I looked at the latest stats update. They aren't estimated to beat us for another 1.1 months now! Their production went down a bit, but it looks like the main reason was our recent uptick. Keep it up, people! They're still on track to pass us. We just set them back a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordofGondor Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I downloaded this about a year ago and haven't used it much. Is there a way to change teams after I've downloaded the client and started the simulation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Assuming you're using windows: If you're running the console version, just add -config after the file name. You can do this from a DOS prompt or from the 'run' box. If you're using the graphical version, right click on the tray icon and go to the configuration screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Hey guys, the Nerds for Jesus have picked up production again. We're back to being overrun in just under three weeks. If you guys are members of other like-minded forums or on good terms with any like-minded blogers, see if you can recruit some help. My friend on the team, graham513, has been posting the group number in PS3 forums, and I think he's had some success, but not many more folks have shown up on the stats yet. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anticontrame Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 All right! My favorite blogger, Hermant Mheta of FriendlyAtheist.com, wrote a post about our team: http://friendlyatheist.com/2008/04/17/fold...h-the-atheists/ Things are looking up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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