Folding Forum

Is anybody else experiencing country pride (or continent pride)???

I'm looking at the globe of yellow dots. There are some countries and entire continents - I won't name them just yet, that are curiously absent from this important cause. I can't believe they don't have internet there...

With that in mind, is it morally wrong to feel that there ought to be a priority order for administering a given cure that was discovered through these folding calculations... to those countries that have contributed some minimal threshold of resources?

Please I'm not inviting a huge barrage of hatred. I'm just voicing what I feel right now. Maybe someone more magnanimous can give me reasons why I'm off base.

Hello oddman,
Not sure which map you mean, but you can bet that many nations with minimal/no folding are home to a less- than- free people.
Ever hear of Team Zimbabwe? How about Folding in North Korea?
Didn't think so.
Of course there are vast areas of undeveloped planet with no electrical power, or internet, but you usually don't have to look much further than their political history to understand why those places remain backward and miserable. I can take that too far, though... there about as many explanations for the way people live as there are people.
Some cultures have developed over thousands of years, and the people have been happy to remain as they've always been. The world doesn't usually let them stay that way- think Tibet. Or Commanche.
There are still wild places where man is wild too, and in an earlier developmental stage than those of us fortunate to be in the modern world. Of course, if we were welcomed at all in some of the most remote places- it might only be as lunch.

The beauty of Folding@home is that we might be able to actually help all of mankind in some way, without regard for anyone''s creed, or heritage or disposition.
Unconditional love must be something like that.

A couple of reasons: the internet or rather, the lack of. The place I stay (not my current location) is one of the biggest and most developed cities in my country yet broadband, as it is defined there, is 192kbps and is ridiculously high priced. While people have computers for gaming and videos, affordable and fast connectivity to the net is a major challenge. Due to this, knowledge about projects like these is hard to come by.

A second reason could be the availibility and price of PS3s (as your observation was on the PS3). A PS3 in my country still costs around $1000 which is about 3 months of pay for an average person. Would someone buy it? If they win the lottery, maybe. For Folding? Probably not. The people who can afford it would rather donate money to a local charity to make everyday living better for others.

I haven't looked at the dots on the globe but I can imagine places that are dark. As Alan said, Folding or any other project involving volunteerism takes a back seat when there are more pressing issues at hand. All the more reason for people like us who can Fold to be thankful to be able to participate in a project like this whose benefits can be far reaching.

oddman wrote:...

With that in mind, is it morally wrong to feel that there ought to be a priority order for administering a given cure that was discovered through these folding calculations... to those countries that have contributed some minimal threshold of resources?

Morality has nothing to do with that feeling. If you have to ask, then you have already answered your own question.

How superior are you going to feel if one of those countries with only a few dots happens to hold the computer that fits that last and most important piece in to the puzzle to find a cure? Should that country get priority? Or maybe just that person? Should the US get priority because that is were Stanford is located? Should France get priority for folding the most work units? None of the above!!!

Stanford shares their results openly with the scientific community. NO ONE gets any priority over any other person, country, continent, etc. The betterment of mankind has no continental or territorial boundaries.

7im wrote:Stanford shares their results openly with the scientific community.

Yes! And they share a whole lot more, too.
Amazing!

anandhanju wrote:A second reason could be the availibility and price of PS3s (as your observation was on the PS3)

Sony spent enormous amounts of talent and treasure in order to make the PS3 folding effort a success.
They didn't have to do that. Thank you, Sony.
In addition to the obvious PS3 benefits to F@h research, just think of the legions of affluent children who can become immersed in the concepts of altruism and scientific analysis through their participation in the project.
Throw a stone in water and the ripples spread.

All of us owe our world to visionaries like Vijay Pande who have, thankfully, always been out there making things better for all of us.

Finding a cure but not sharing it will all of humanity is not something to be proud of.

Last time i looked they might find why something misfolded, but that in itself is not a cure. It may help a pharmaceutical company create a cure.

AFAIK, Pandegroup publishes results for everyone to download unlike some of those BOINC projects that do it for profit. So dont get your knickers in a twist. If you want someone to blame, blame pharmaceutical companies, or blame the US pharmaceutical companies (if we're taking it to the age old AIDS Africa/Generic Drugs argument).

So,

@Tobit: If those people in <insert country x> want to download the findings on protein misfolds, then they can. They can be found on the main FAH website.
@oddman: Use your brain before trolling. Maybe do some research on how much internet access costs in those countries you are thinking about, then find out what the average wage is for a person.

I'm with oddman, I want priority because I am me and you are not.

alancabler wrote:Not sure which map you mean

Well, the globe that's illustrated by the software. The dots on it.

alancabler wrote:The beauty of Folding@home is that we might be able to actually help all of mankind in some way, without regard for anyone''s creed, or heritage or disposition.
Unconditional love must be something like that.

I think I have some of that. Otherwise I wouldn't be running my PS3 24/7, allocating what amounts to over 91% of its purchase price for this endeavor, plus an estimated $20/month on the electricity bill.

anandhanju wrote:I haven't looked at the dots on the globe but I can imagine places that are dark. As Alan said, Folding or any other project involving volunteerism takes a back seat when there are more pressing issues at hand. All the more reason for people like us who can Fold to be thankful to be able to participate in a project like this whose benefits can be far reaching.

Well said, anandhanju

I believe this project gives people a chance to be altruistic where they might otherwise never have exercised that part of their personality.

Thanks for the responses and opinions.

v00d00 wrote:AFAIK, Pandegroup publishes results for everyone to download unlike some of those BOINC projects that do it for profit. So dont get your knickers in a twist. If you want someone to blame, blame pharmaceutical companies, or blame the US pharmaceutical companies (if we're taking it to the age old AIDS Africa/Generic Drugs argument).

European pharmaceutical companies are no great paragon of virtue.

Of course, there is the advantage that drugs do come off patent.

If it's a simple molecule to make, they'll go into the "$4 for thirty days" pricing category.