"SETI@home is a distributed processing client from UC Berkeley that installs on the volunteers' home computers and harnesses their processing power in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. So far nothing noteworthy has come out of this massive project... that is until today! One of the volunteers was able to track down his wife's stolen laptop using the IP address that SETI@home client reports back to the server. After getting back the laptop his wife said, 'I always knew that a geek would make a great husband.'"
This is why I do Folding@Home which is devoted toward medical advances, not finding alien life. In other words, my measly clock cycles might actually contribute a tiny bit toward helping increase the quality of life for someone, rather than bringing on an alien invasion. Maybe the next thing they can find is the event horizon of the resource black hole at the heart of the SETI@Home network.
Leave a comment