This article is originally created by 10101, but I hope everyone will re-post it, thank you. If someone had asked me in the past how to help those in need, my thoughts were: 1) become a doctor without borders (www.msf.org.hk); 2) join the Red Cross; 3) make donations. But recently, I accidentally discovered a group of people who are helping many, many others around the world. The correct statement should be that they are fighting diseases for all humanity, but their strength is very weak and they also need help from others. What are they? They are a research organization from the University of California, currently dedicated to decoding diseases that are currently difficult to treat, such as cancer, AIDS, Dengue fever, etc. They need computers to break down the cellular or viral genes of these diseases so that drugs can be developed against them. Their strength is very thin; they don't have many powerful supercomputers, they don't have much research funding, they don't have many modern devices seen on TV, but they have wisdom. They came up with a way for friends who want to help others to participate together. We don't need to become doctors without borders, we don't need to join the Red Cross, we don't need to make donations. We can still contribute to the research. As long as we are willing to help others, we can participate—distributed computing! Use the remaining resources of your computer to do something meaningful for all humanity! After seeing the website of this organization, I felt that this distributed computing was very significant. It's hard for general schools or non-profit research institutions to obtain large computer systems with strong computational power to quickly analyze human diseases that are difficult to cure, such as cancer, AIDS, Dengue fever, even the recent avian influenza and various pathogenic viruses or cancer cell genes. Thus, the concept of distributed computing was born. For example, if it would take 100,000 years to fully calculate the genetic mutations of cancer cells using the computers of research institutions, we can simply think that if there are 100,000 computers, each machine helps calculate a block, then it would only take one year to crack this genetic structure, allowing drugs to be developed to treat this cancer.
Let me give another simple example: Have you ever seen a map? This distributed computing means that a large calculation project is like a very large map. If one person has to go to every place on this map to complete all measurements and then draw it out, it would take 100 years (36500 days) to finish. However, if this map is divided into 1000 regions and 1000 staff members each measure and draw maps for their assigned regions, once completed, everyone can gather together, put together the maps they've drawn, and the entire large map would only take 36500 days / 1000 = 36.5 days to complete. Doesn't this demonstrate the spirit of division of labor and unity? Now what we need is this spirit of cooperation.
The computing performance of the computers we now have is not much different from, or even surpasses, the super servers of a few years ago. You can right-click on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, select "Task Manager," then choose "Performance" to see the current usage of our computer resources. Normally, the computing power we use does not exceed 10%, leaving 90% idle waiting. Why don't we contribute some of this extra resource? Since January 3, 2008, when I joined the calculations, the computer automatically starts this calculator upon booting up. It loads some calculation blocks in segments, automatically sends them back after completion, and this process requires no manual intervention. It uses extremely minimal resources and can be set to start calculating only when the system is idle. During the entire process of using the computer, I don't notice its existence. Since we don't have to pay anything to help others (fate is unpredictable, perhaps one day we may help family and friends, or even ourselves), why not do it?
The organization's website: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org. Everyone might want to browse it. There are many active participants inside, and the website also has forums where people exchange ideas and suggestions. However, currently, it seems that there are very few participants from our country, which makes me feel disappointed. Hopefully, it's due to the language barrier. However, the English on the website is quite simple, and it shouldn't be too difficult for us descendants of Yan and Huang. If you're willing to participate, just click on the "Download Now" icon on the homepage, then simply fill out some information, including a nickname, email address, etc., just like registering for a forum user ID on a website. Also, you can choose the group you belong to (many people from the same school or organization participate together). If you don't want to join any group, you can choose not to. Even if you prefer, you can create a new group. Then the website allows you to download a computing program. After installing this program (the program supports simplified Chinese display), you basically don't have to worry about it anymore (of course, if you like, you can always manually intervene in its work, adjust its working method, and control the amount of resources it occupies). It will start with the computer, download one or more calculation blocks when the computer is idle, calculate one block after another, automatically upload the completed ones back to the website, and download new calculation blocks to continue calculating repeatedly. You won't feel its presence. It will quietly do its job and silently calculate your score to let you know how much you've contributed. This website is not a profit-making institution, and all the computer equipment they currently use is sponsored by IBM. We shouldn't expect to gain anything. What we get is helping others. To quote a line from the Bible: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
As a member of humanity, don't live on Earth every day just competing or consuming resources. Let's do something for those in need. The research institute is the University of California, Berkeley. I hope everyone will visit their organization's webpage (though there is no Chinese version yet, I sent an email to the school a few days ago asking if I could help them translate a complete Chinese version, but the reply was that they are already doing this). A Chinese version should be available soon. The website is: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/. If you are interested in joining the calculation team and encounter any problems, please reply to this post, and I will try my best to answer any questions you have.
P.S. Currently, I am in the "CFIDO" group, which is the China Well Network. If you are a member or friend of the early China Well Network, you are welcome to join. If not, you are still welcome to join, or you can establish a new group, or not join any group at all. Independent calculation is the same. Besides, if you are a doctor, participating in Doctors Without Borders is a great honor. The website for Doctors Without Borders is: www.msf.org.hk