Some of us have been using our computers to run Distributing Computing for a lot of years now, trying to 'Crunch for a Cure'.
The article below expresses the thoughts and feelings of one of our fellow Crunchers during many of those years.
Over those years some of the names have changed a little but the underlying focus remains the same.
... what was then called 'UD' is now 'WCG'
A Testimony for running the United Devices Cancer Research Project.
Question: Is UD's idea going to work when they find a way to match the drug to the protein? Or is this all just a theory? Or is their idea a definite way to the cure and it's all just a matter of time?
Answer: The sure fire thing is that we are going to find out.
What we are doing is saving time and money in the pursuit of a cure for cancer.
It might be possible to duplicate our efforts with a bunch of supercomputers. The problem is that no one can afford to pay the money that these machines would cost to use. By donating our computers, we are cutting way down on costs and making this research affordable.
What we are doing is Cancer research, but not in the ordinary definition of the term. We are not going through the Scientific method of forming Hypotheses, designing experiments to test the hypotheses, carrying out the experiments and then interpreting the results of the experiment.
What we are involved in is a winnowing process that is preliminary to the actual experimentation that will be carried out later. Our processing determines which molecules out of millions will interact {the more hits the better the interaction} best with a series of cancer proteins.
Once we determine the most likely molecules, further experimentation will be done with them that involve actual tests, not computer modeling like we are doing.
I have seen estimates that the work we are doing will accelerate this Cancer research by 5 to 8 years. What the results will be no one can say for sure.
But, how can you not try?
If we don't try, we will never know.
How can you not do the most you can to advance Cancer research?
Win or lose, cure or not, we are providing information quickly that would have taken years, if ever, to obtain any other way.
UD is easy to do, it's free, and it doesn't interfere with your normal computing.
Besides that, it's fun to associate with all these fine UD/PC911 people: Chatting with, competing with, and learning from.
My computer is faster and more reliable than it ever has been from maxing it out for UD.
My friend, I think the most important thing this UD project provides is Hope. Without Hope we are lost. UD provides us with Hope for a future without Cancer. That great Hope is what drives hundreds of thousands of people with a million+ computers to participate in this great undertaking.
I've said it before. We are making history. We will be included in any history of computing as being among the first to use distributed computing to do medical research that otherwise could not be done or at least not be done without great difficulty.
How can you resist the siren call of directly participating in Cancer research?
I can't.
My father's death was accelerated by lung cancer two years ago. UD won't bring that fine man back.
I participate in UD, like many others, in the Hope of saving at least one person from the pain and suffering that our loved ones have gone through.
?by Dubber? PC911, June 8, 2002
