# Does anyone use FightAIDS@Home? What about the Golem Project? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816 "2005-12-09T02:50:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/1 "2005-12-09T02:50:13Z")
Does anyone use FightAIDS@Home? What about the Golem Project? These two sites are sponsored by [PBS.org](http://PBS.org). You can read what PBS has to say about these sites [here](http://www.pbs.org/saf/alrec.htm). I am curious about a couple of things. Consider the FightAIDS@Home site. I want AIDS to be eliminated throughout the world. I do not want a single strain of AIDS to exist anywhere. Do I need to be more clear on this issue? I think you get the idea. However, I am wondering who actuall runs these sites. If some huge drug company sponsors these sites, and they are using thier research to generate more profits, then my interest in granting these labs my computer resources starts to diminish. If I am to be a link the the chain which these companies use to haul lots of money up to thier offices, my interest in donating my computers resources disappears completly. OTOH if these people are intending to rid the entire world of AIDS then I have a greater, and much more noble, interest in donating my computer. If the only thing standing between the living threat of AIDS, and a total cure for the disease is the computing power of my system, then they can have my computer. So there-in lies my dilema. The same applies for the SETI site, and the Golem site, and probably every other site that sponsors such a program. If my computer is merely going to be used for someone else to make money, then I think they need to go buy another computer, and put it on thier own network. (They spend $40,000 a year or so on a network engineer…) So are these sites truly intending to better the world for all mankind, or are they just trying to make money. That is my dilema. any help is appreciated Ficer67 ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/2 "2005-12-09T03:24:15Z")
Not trying to start a debate, but I don’t think we’ll ever see, unless by accident, any philantropist achieving something truly great for mankind. The easy stuff has been done, and there’s not enough good feelings in the world to cure cancer. Somebody has to make a buck on finding a cure for AIDS, and I for one, salute them. To answer your question, at least partially, FightAIDS@home is affiliated with The Scripps Research Institute, a private non-profit research center. The Golem Project seems to be affiliated with Brandeis, a private (Jewish?) university. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/3 "2005-12-09T03:25:08Z")
I generally think all of those projects don’t do all that much to solving the problems they are trying to solve. I feel that they are mostly useful as tools to see if disturbed computing can be made workable. I could be convinced otherwise but these sorts of distributed projects have been around for a long time the only one I have heard got results is the RSA challenge which was to break the encryption on a test message. All that proved was that you can use a distributed network to do a bunch of calculations. In general the reading I did about fightsAIDS@home is that the network they are using is for non profits. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/4 "2005-12-09T13:25:53Z")
> [@groman](#): > > The Golem Project seems to be affiliated with Brandeis, a private (Jewish?) university. Why the qualifier of Brandeis possibly being a Jewish university? Should that affect someones participation? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/5 "2005-12-09T14:09:12Z")
How does one judge which of these projects has a better likelihood of benefiting mankind? I switched from Seti@home to the UD protein folding project, because that seemed more likely to alleviate suffering. Maybe this AIDS one has an even better chance. How do I know? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/6 "2005-12-09T14:47:10Z")
I’ve opted in on the Folding@Home Distributed Networking. It works away at protien folding, that is the source of many neuralogical deseases. Alzheimers, Mad Cow, Huntington’s, Cancer, Parkinson’s, and many more. I know it’s not for profit and they need more participants. Some like the SETI project has all the help they need, and it’s not a critical issue. I have had neuralogical problems 37 years. This is one field that has far to go, and most people at some point are affected by this before they die. The Folding@Home software is very well written, and doesn’t affect my other programs in any way. Anybody that’s interested in this project I ask to use the number for the BrainTalk board that credits the hours to the members of that medical help board. Thank You. [http://folding.stanford.edu/](http://folding.stanford.edu/) Brain Talk Forums [http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5135](http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5135) I’m not trying to talk you out of the AIDS project. I am trying to get the SETI people to switch though. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/7 "2005-12-09T14:50:43Z")
Revtim I’m happy to hear that. I don’t feel my choice was so obscure now. It was the first one I found that was humanitarian, so after years of considering doing it, I did. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/8 "2005-12-09T15:30:53Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > Revtim I’m happy to hear that. I don’t feel my choice was so obscure now. It was the first one I found that was humanitarian, so after years of considering doing it, I did. Well, just don’t blame me if our lack of support to Seti@home prevents humanity from making first contact with the alien race that would have cured all disease and solved all social problems and gave us immortality and provided gorgeous perfectly realistic sex-robots to be our slaves forever. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/9 "2005-12-09T17:58:54Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Why the qualifier of Brandeis possibly being a Jewish university? Should that affect someones participation? My guess is that he was implying that the Golem is a character out of Jewish folklore and that Brandeis made the acronym for the project as sort of a nod to the Jewish faith. My guess is that the acronym is simply a reference to a mythical character that was a shapeless mass of inanimate matter brought to life. I don’t think that **groman** was implying anything in his post. Anyway, is Brandeis a Jewish university? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/10 "2005-12-09T18:57:48Z")
> [@Guy Incognito](#): > > My guess is that he was implying that the Golem is a character out of Jewish folklore and that Brandeis made the acronym for the project as sort of a nod to the Jewish faith. My guess is that the acronym is simply a reference to a mythical character that was a shapeless mass of inanimate matter brought to life. I don’t think that **groman** was implying anything in his post. > > Anyway, is Brandeis a Jewish university? Just curious. I looked it up and Brandeis is in fact a private coed non-sectarian Jewish university. As for my reference to it being Jewish, you’re correct and I was guessing as to why they called the project GOLEM. A very appropriate name 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/11 "2005-12-09T22:51:17Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > … I feel that they are mostly useful as tools to see if disturbed computing can be made workable. > … Disturbed computing is the _only_ kind that many of us do. 🙂 Interesting thread - I had heard of SETI but not the GOLEM thing and not the AIDS one either. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/12 "2005-12-09T23:11:53Z")
> [@groman](#): > > I looked it up and Brandeis is in fact a private coed non-sectarian Jewish university. As for my reference to it being Jewish, you’re correct and I was guessing as to why they called the project GOLEM. A very appropriate name 🙂 Ahhh, makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/13 "2005-12-10T00:46:34Z")
> [@Guy Incognito](#): > > Anyway, is Brandeis a Jewish university? Just curious. Brandeis is not a Jewish university. It is a completely secular Jewish- **sponsored** university. Might seem like a nitpick, but it’s something the school always tries to emphasize (I’m a gentile Brandeis alumn). Last I heard the school’s population was about 2/3 Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/14 "2005-12-10T02:04:20Z")
> [@Ficer67](#): > > I do not want a single strain of AIDS to exist anywhere. Do I need to be more clear on this issue? I think you get the idea. A laudable but unatainable goal. Polio and smallpox were thought to have been eradicated but they are still live and well on planet earth ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/15 "2005-12-10T10:28:26Z")
- - - I’m waiting for the Pimping@home project, to find better lines for pickin’ up da ho’s. You need cable/dsl + a phone line, because it calls up local female names in the phone book and tests cheesy pickup lines on them. The ones that answer positively go into a Google Maps thing, it’s gonna be sweet. …Until then I’ll probably just keep running Toast@home, the one that’s trying to find why when you drop it, it always lands buttered-side-down. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-fightaids-home-what-about-the-golem-project/334816/16 "2005-12-12T01:30:45Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > A laudable but unatainable goal. > Polio and smallpox were thought to have been eradicated but they are still live and well on planet earth Could we have a cite here for smallpox? Because I thought that had indeed been eliminated. And the first page I find when googling, from the US Center for Disease Control, says in the first paragraph > [@](#): > > a disease that does not currently exist anywhere in the world Second paragraph: > [@](#): > > in the absence of smallpox disease in the world Third paragraph: > [@](#): > > Because the likelihood of reintroduction of smallpox is extremely low And further > [@](#): > > Since smallpox no longer exists as a naturally occurring disease, a single laboratory confirmed case of smallpox would be considered an outbreak. All the sites I found that imply that smallpox is alive somewhere on earth seemed to be nutcase homeopathic sites or sites selling ‘natural’ vitamins or similar. Has there been a confirmed case of smallpox anywhere on earth in the last 23 years (since the 1978 caused by the lab accident in the University of Birmingham Medical Facility)?