I think I'd also point your friend to a couple of other BOINC projects:
MalariaControl seems to have a very applied focus, and I believe will be out of Beta soon and producing multiple "real science" papers.
UFluids is being completed as part of a master's thesis (or is it a doctoral dissertation??) from which you can expect journal articles to be produced.
Just to add another project: HashClash was done as part of a Master's degree thesis, maybe there'll be a publication based on that.
One also has to take into account the time from research, and publication, through developement, to when the 'product' becomes useful to society.
My own experience is of the phase locked loop (PLL), I worked on valve comms equipment that used a PLL in the mid 1960's it required 34 amplification stages. Quite impractical for any domestic use and most industrial uses, the most common new domestic radio receivers, at that time, used seven transistors.
The initial description of the PLL was in the early 1930's, but it took until the mid 70's for Signetics to produce the first practical integrated circuit. These days we don't even notice them, because they are so common, they are in every stereo radio and TV, and also in many hard drives.
In today's world one only needs to look at Buckyballs (Buckminsterfullerene), 20 years of research and still no practical applications.
How many people know that Computerized Axial Tomography was made possible by a mathematician and a radioastronomer? They were not looking for a way to improve radiography but CAT depends on their basic research.
Tullio
I tell people that ask, that within a year or so analysis of S5 will be able to produce the answer that theory is correct, theory is wrong, or that there is something really wrong with the data acquisition/analysis. AND that is how science progresses.
I'd let those denying BOINC and the people behind it doing any science try to answer these basic questions (they should have no problems answering, considering their fundamental standpoint of denial* [* see bottom of text] ) :
Was the LIGO and GEO600 built as a design study for Laser Inferometers (who needs those anyway)?
Is the LHC being constructed to dispose Switzerland's overwhelming Energy overproduction they could not get rid of otherwise ?
Are the expensive Supercomputers used to simulate and predict Earth Climate an early version of the Swiss Energy overproduction problem solution ?
If not, were people like this simply not informed of the new Solution, so - forgotten as they were - they kept going on ?
What about these guys ? Cern in play again, but instead of solving the Swiss Energy surplus problem they're fighting some disease in Africa? Where on earth is that City anyway ?
And - for the most ignorant - how do all these places look like and what type of people are working there ?
I'm sure even the critics should recognize that every one of these aren't quite "Joe Sixpack" that got these jobs assigned by their local state employment services and Socal Worker initiatives.
IMHO that kind of makes the point clear enough.
*
contextual Quote : The horizon of many people is a circle with a radius of zero. They call it their point of view.
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955
I have a computer science student friend who pokes fun at me for taking BOINC so seriously. I just had a conversation with him where he claims BOINC doesn't help science or scientists! I'll quote the coversation, in part, below (with his name removed, of course).
ME(4:06:19 PM): as a computer scientist you should think DC/boinc is neat!
HIM(4:06:21 PM): you're just lucky i don't try to explain how boinc actually doesn't help anyone
What is his argument? Ask him to explain why boinc doesn't actually help anyone, and then report his explanation here.
There the results from the BOINCSIMAP projects are available for anybody to use.
(Its a searchable database containing protein sequences determined by the BOINC project.)
RE: I think I'd also point
)
Just to add another project: HashClash was done as part of a Master's degree thesis, maybe there'll be a publication based on that.
I think there are a couple
)
I think there are a couple out already, IIRC one was published last month.
Alinator
RE: Personally I think his
)
Good point! I guess that's the blur between 'research' and 'development'.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
One also has to take into
)
One also has to take into account the time from research, and publication, through developement, to when the 'product' becomes useful to society.
My own experience is of the phase locked loop (PLL), I worked on valve comms equipment that used a PLL in the mid 1960's it required 34 amplification stages. Quite impractical for any domestic use and most industrial uses, the most common new domestic radio receivers, at that time, used seven transistors.
The initial description of the PLL was in the early 1930's, but it took until the mid 70's for Signetics to produce the first practical integrated circuit. These days we don't even notice them, because they are so common, they are in every stereo radio and TV, and also in many hard drives.
In today's world one only needs to look at Buckyballs (Buckminsterfullerene), 20 years of research and still no practical applications.
How many people know that
)
How many people know that Computerized Axial Tomography was made possible by a mathematician and a radioastronomer? They were not looking for a way to improve radiography but CAT depends on their basic research.
Tullio
I tell people that ask, that
)
I tell people that ask, that within a year or so analysis of S5 will be able to produce the answer that theory is correct, theory is wrong, or that there is something really wrong with the data acquisition/analysis. AND that is how science progresses.
Joe B
I shall add my few
)
I shall add my few cents...
I'd let those denying BOINC and the people behind it doing any science try to answer these basic questions (they should have no problems answering, considering their fundamental standpoint of denial* [* see bottom of text] ) :
Was the LIGO and GEO600 built as a design study for Laser Inferometers (who needs those anyway)?
Were the Arecibo Observatory or Parkes Observatory built to have easy landmarks for visual aircraft navigation ?
Is the LHC being constructed to dispose Switzerland's overwhelming Energy overproduction they could not get rid of otherwise ?
Are the expensive Supercomputers used to simulate and predict Earth Climate an early version of the Swiss Energy overproduction problem solution ?
If not, were people like this simply not informed of the new Solution, so - forgotten as they were - they kept going on ?
What about these guys ? Cern in play again, but instead of solving the Swiss Energy surplus problem they're fighting some disease in Africa? Where on earth is that City anyway ?
What on earth drove the University of Washington and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support these guys ? Definifely too much time at hand and too money to spend, right ?
And - for the most ignorant - how do all these places look like and what type of people are working there ?
I'm sure even the critics should recognize that every one of these aren't quite "Joe Sixpack" that got these jobs assigned by their local state employment services and Socal Worker initiatives.
IMHO that kind of makes the point clear enough.
*
contextual Quote : The horizon of many people is a circle with a radius of zero. They call it their point of view.
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955
RE: I have a computer
)
What is his argument? Ask him to explain why boinc doesn't actually help anyone, and then report his explanation here.
If you want to see BOINC
)
If you want to see BOINC results live on the web go to
http://webclu.bio.wzw.tum.de/cgi-bin/simap/start.pl
There the results from the BOINCSIMAP projects are available for anybody to use.
(Its a searchable database containing protein sequences determined by the BOINC project.)
For a scientific explanation visit their websites or look into the BOINSIMAP forum
http://boinc.bio.wzw.tum.de/boincsimap//forum/viewtopic.php?t=192
Merry Christams to everybody.