# Shut Up And Change The World **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 18, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560 "2004-11-18T22:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/1 "2004-11-18T22:48:19Z")
[Or at least do it while you’re computer’s doing nothing.](http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/) > [@](#): > > World Community Grid’s mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Our work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better. Our success depends on individuals - like you - collectively contributing their unused computer time. IBM’s apparently the driving force behind this. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/2 "2004-11-19T00:08:32Z")
I started running that on my computer a couple of days ago, and have just started a [team for the SDMB](http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/viewTeamInfo.do?teamId=LS5RSMBR9N1) called the Teeming Millions. Come join me! The program itself is very unobtrusive, and hasn’t impaired my computer while it’s doing I’m doing my usual running of a zillion programs at once. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/3 "2004-11-19T00:20:54Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Team [team for the SDMB](http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/viewTeamInfo.do?teamId=LS5RSMBR9N1) called the Teeming Millions. That reminds me. Does SDMB have a [SetiAtHome](http://www.setiathome.org) team? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/4 "2004-11-19T00:21:56Z")
I believe we do 🙂 Let me look it up! ---
**Author:** ![Althea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@Althea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Althea)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/5 "2004-11-19T03:19:04Z")
I have joined the Teeming Millions team. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/6 "2004-11-19T16:41:01Z")
We’re up to three people now (who are you, Third Person?), making us #318 _in the entire world_. We can definitely do better than that - anybody else want to join us? ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/7 "2004-11-19T16:43:18Z")
Yeah, but it’ll probably be overrun by people from Nigeria trying to write better spam letters. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/8 "2004-11-19T16:45:50Z")
Color me skeptical, confused, or dumber than a box of rocks, but just how does this help anyone or anything exactly? I just didn’t get it from the website. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/9 "2004-11-19T17:57:18Z")
Color me confused, but for different reasons: I’ve been running United Devices, contributing computer time for cancer research for a few years now. ([Grid.org](http://Grid.org) has a StraightDope group, which I joined myself a couple of years ago.) One of the projects showcased on the WorldCommunity Grid site is the Smallpox Research project, run by [Grid.org](http://Grid.org). One of the headlines on the [Grid.org](http://Grid.org) site is the up-and-coming WorldCommunity Grid, which will run The Human Proteome Folding Project. There’s a mention that [Grid.org](http://Grid.org) will be running the same project as well. The partners for WorldCommunityGrid are IBM and United Devices. The partners for [Grid.org](http://Grid.org) are IBM and United Devices. These are the same businesses, same people, planning to analyze the same kind of medical data in the same way they have for several years, and they’re doing it by…starting a new community? Am I reading this wrong? Why would you want to start a new grid community from scratch, when you already have one in place? If they’re trying to attract new users to the new project, why not advertize the heck out of the established community instead of going to the trouble of starting a new one from scratch? As far as I can tell, there’s no difference between what [grid.org](http://grid.org) does and what [worldcommunitygrid.org](http://worldcommunitygrid.org) does. They’ll be competing with themselves for the same pool of users. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/10 "2004-11-19T18:01:47Z")
There’s no Mac OS version. Phooey. I guess I’ll have to settle for searching for life in outer space, then. ---
**Author:** ![missing\_link](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@missing\_link](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missing_link)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-up-and-change-the-world/275560/11 "2004-11-19T20:08:45Z")
Joined the team. Only have a lousy 1GHz Pentium though. It already almost ground to a halt solving a lot easier molecular conformation problems when I was doing my semester project a year ago, but oh well, better than nothing I guess.