From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Fri May 30 2003 - 10:24:48 MDT
> (Gary Miller <garymiller@starband.net>):
>
> I don't wish to offend anyone or lay on a big guilt trip but here goes.
> The idea of wasting CPU cycles on primes and searching for ET when
> there are worthy projects like http://www.find-a-drug.com/ trying
> to find cures for diseases like cancer just makes me question
> how much we really care about our fellow man.
The thing about basic research is this: it is not even remotely
possible to know what line of research will lead to the most lives
being saved in the long run. Yes, finding a drug that cures HIV
would be a marvellous thing, and is probably within the realm of
near-term possibility. But it may very well be an obscure mathematical
result of some kind that enables some totally unforeseen technology
that conquers death itself, or that makes spaceflight practical, or
that enables the next great comminication medium that empowers
everyone. There's just no way to know.
So sure, if you want short-term results like finding conventional
treatments for existing diseases, then find-a-drug might be a good
place to use your CPU resources. But the big leaps are likely to come
from more basic research into nature itself, like protein folding,
or even GIMPS. Yes, even SETI might accomplish something spectacular.
There's just no way to know.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri May 30 2003 - 10:36:16 MDT