Scientific Progress Goes BOINC

Since sometime in 1998, my primary screensaver has been the SETI@home client. The system was designed by UC Berkeley as a means of harnessing massive amounts of computer power with a minimal amount of financial investment.

The SETI@home project was developed around two premises:

1. People are fascinated with the potential existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe;
2. Large work projects can be divided into small "packets" that can be downloaded over the internet and processed while the computer is not being used.
   

The idea was brilliant, and hugely successful. The amount of work that SETI chews through in a single day surpasses all the supercomputing work done in major research establishments by a factor of thousands. The success of the project has allowed numerous rewrites of the code, allowing the project to analyze the data much more thoroughly.

Recently, SETI@home began migrating their client to a new project called BOINC, which is a new architecture that allows your computer to participate in a variety of supercomputing endeavors:

1. ClimatePrediction.net - Study climate change;
   
2. Einstein@home - Search for gravitational signals coming from pulsars;
3. LHC@home - Improve the design of the CERN LHC particle accelerator;
4. Predictor@home - Investigate protein-related diseases;
5. SETI@home - Search for radio evidence of extraterrestrial life;

And the list is growing. The power of BOINC is not only allowing the individual user to choose what scientific endeavors he wishes to participate in, but the architecture allows almost any scientific research project to be hosted via the BOINC portal. This could likely be a potential alternative to those researchers who have computationally-intensive research, but their budget does not allow the purchase, rental, or development of a supercomputer.

Turning the world-wide web into a supercomputer is one of the most brilliant ideas conceived in computing history. There are likely millions of desktop computers sitting idly as you read this. All those processors could be put to good use.

I discovered the BOINC client last week after upgrading my computer to OSX Tiger. My computer refused to launch the SETI@home client while I was away from my computer. So due to my operating system upgrade, I was also forced to upgrade to BOINC. So far, it looks like it's becoming a smart choice.

Why I've Abandoned Hope on Television Programming

Last night, when I should have been sleeping, I came across a television program called "Unexplained Mysteries". It was one of those shows that deals with UFO's, Government conspiracies, Alien bodies, and eye-witness accounts of abduction. I ended up getting some amusement out of the show, but while lying in bed afterwards, I was considering the validity of the show I had just witnessed.

I would like to believe in many things. I would like to believe that there is intelligent life out in the universe (I often think there certainly isn't any on this Rock); I would like to think that we will be contacted by these beings in my lifetime. I would also like to believe in other ideals, such as world peace, the end of poverty, disease, and even government corruption. But I am a skeptic by nature.

I have seen many shows like the one I saw last night. In fact, every one of these shows are the same as the other. They show the same old footage; they discuss all the same issues in every show: Alien crash-landings in New Mexico, preserved bodies of extraterrestrials in top-secret military bases, and experimental fighter planes based on alien technologies. They feature retired military officers claiming these events actually occurred, but have no definitive proof due to the destruction of classified documents. On top of all this bunk, these programs display faces, pyramids, and other structures on Mars that cannot be explained as natural phenomena. I am not sure if the purpose of these shows is to make believers out of us, to scare us, or to undermine credibility of our Governments.

What struck me, is the "spin" that these programs put on these shows, as if they could actually succeed in exposing the "truth" to the masses, that the United States Government has been lying to the people for at least the last sixty years. This is not unlike the "spin" that the US media portrays the civil unrest in the Middle East, or the spin that Al-Jezeera puts on the same news. I continued my thought processes and dug a little deeper into the issues at hand.

I thought, what if it were true that the United States government had definitive proof that extraterrestrials existed? Would they share that information with the public? According to the show I witnessed last night, they said "no", which I tend to agree with. The government would fear that if the public were to know that extraterrestrials existed, then a moral panic of unprecedented proportions would ensue, and the government may be unable to control the public. Upon further thought, I concluded that the US Government is right-wing conservative; some would even argue that the separation of Church and State has been blurred in recent years. One cannot deny that the proof of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would have a profound effect on our spiritual beliefs. On a similar tangent, I would not be surprised if "the Church" still has a significant amount of influence within "the State", even up to the highest levels of government.

[ed. note: If you think I'm treading on thin ice, you are probably right. I am trying my best to be as general as possible as to not piss everyone off. If you hear me out, you might be surprised in the direction I take this.]

I would like to believe that some of the reported UFO sightings were from extraterrestrial beings. I would like to think the US military has an alien craft in a hangar in some top-secret military installation (I would also like to believe that if this were true, that the alien technology is so advanced, that military scientists do not understand the technology so they cannot implement it into their own military vehicles or weaponry). The more I think about it, I do not believe that the US military has such evidence.

In 1961, Dr. Frank Drake proposed a formula to mathematically determine the probability of intelligent life existing in our universe. The equation is as follows:

N = R × f_p × n_e × f_l × f_i × f_c × L

Where:

N = The number of communicative civilizations
R = The rate of formation of suitable stars
f_p = The fraction of those with planets
n_e = The number of planets in the system that would be capable of sustaining life
f_l = The fraction of those where life develops
f_i = The fraction of life sites where intelligence develops
f_c = The fraction of planets where technology develops
L = The "lifetime" of communicating civilizations

The numbers are arbitrary, but generally we are looking at a very small number. When we consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life landing on our small blue planet, the number gets even smaller.

If we were to be contacted by intelligent beings from elsewhere in the universe, it would surely be in the form of radio waves (sure, science fiction fans love to talk about "sub-space" communication technology that travels faster than light, but we have no knowledge if such a thing exists. If it did, every computer geek on the web would want that technology, as cable modems and email aren't fast enough for them). Radio waves have the ability to travel great distances without substantial loss in signal quality. There are many government-funded programs designed to listen to these radio waves for signs of intelligent life. The SETI@home program is an unprecedented attempt to listen to these signals with more precision than ever before. After being operational for some seven years, using millions of years of computer processing time, and identifying many potential candidates, not one legitimate signal has been discovered by the SETI@home program.

Of course, many believers will argue that we have received signals from intelligent beings, but the Government has classified the information, so civil order can be maintained. This is simply not true. What "Unexplained Mysteries" (and other similar programs) fail to mention, is that the Earth rotates; stars rise and set. Extraterrestrial civilizations do not make person-to-person calls.

In order to make contact with an alien civilization, a signal has to be sent into space at an incredibly high amplification. The message would have to be repeated countless times, not just for years, but centuries or millennia. The vastness of space is so large, that if an intelligent race existed on the other end of our galaxy, it would take one hundred thousand years for that signal to reach us. It would take another one hundred thousand years for us to return their signal. By the time they had received our signal, our civilization (as we know it) would not be around. Even so, given the vastness of space, we would have to be listening at precisely the right time in order to acquire the signal; so would they.

If an alien civilization were to try and contact us, it would likely be a very faint signal. We would receive that signal many times; and every radio telescope in the world would be able to tune-in. If such a candidate signal was discovered, the news would not be be kept secret for long. I consider this definitive proof that there is no possible way that the United States government would be able to intercept an intelligent signal from outer space, and classify it without the rest of the world knowing. How can you classify a signal that's intended for all of us? And not only us human beings; what about the rest of the Universe?

It is more likely that if intelligent life exists outside of our solar system, it is so far away that we would never be able to return the signal in our lifetime. It is even more likely that there is nothing more than noble gases out there. But I like to dream of the alternative.

The idea of "Area 51", a top-secret air force base (that even the government denies its' existence, regardless of whether or not it exists) having an extraterrestrial craft in their possession is almost unbelievable. Again, this has to do with laws of percentages. To crash-land on an uncivilized area of the United States is like hitting a bullseye target from the moon. The United States covers a small percentage of the surface area of the earth. If an interplanetary craft were to crash-land on the Earth, it would most likely land on water; two thirds of the Earth's surface area is covered in water. To have the US military cover up such a crash-landing up with few (or no) witnesses is another slim chance.

Now if such a place exists such as "Area 51", I would expect it would be more a testing ground for new military technologies, but I doubt these technologies are alien. The majority of UFO sightings are debunked as military vehicles. Some are even debunked by natural phenomena.

We haven't even yet examined archaeological evidence. There are many accounts in historical records of strange beings visiting primitive civilizations, operating strange machinery, in both the Middle East and in Central American civilizations. Besides folklore and wall paintings, there are no artifacts to prove that extraterrestrials have visited this planet in the past. Furthermore, I would argue that no extraterrestrial beings have not visited us, as even now there is "no sign of intelligent life" on this planet. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to discuss the uncanny precision of the construction of the pyramids (or other archaeological discoveries that are normally featured on similar television shows); that will have to wait for another entry.

As for those who claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrials and subjected to "testing", I would love to have psychological assessments on these people. I wonder how many of them habitually abuse hallucinogens, how many of them are schizophrenic or suffer from some other debilitating mental disorder, or how many of them are just craving attention to the degree that they will say or do anything. Many people who have suffered abuse in their lives have what is known in the professional community as "repressed memories" -- which is a nice way of saying that their experiences were so traumatic that they actually made themselves "forget" these events actually occurred. If you consider that many of these abuses are allegedly similar to acts of sexual exploitation, you can probably understand how these people might believe they were abducted by aliens, rather than subjects of abuse.

People believe that extraterrestrials would treat us in the same manner we treat other species of our planet. I don't think that these "aliens" would feel any guilt inflicting pain on us for the advancement of their knowledge. I am opening another big can of worms here, so I should probably reserve this issue for another entry.

What I think, and what I want to believe are obviously two different things. I hope that I have provided convincing evidence that we do not yet have definitive proof of extraterrestrial life. With the development of new technologies, it might end up that we might discover that we are not alone in the Universe; I hope in the process we might be able to discover a bit more about ourselves.

Speed Bump

This morning, my trusty iMac got a healthy dose of power. My friend (who happens to be a computer technician) and I installed an additional 512 megabytes of RAM, bumping the total RAM available up to 768 megabytes. The operation was quick and painless. We had the cover off and back on in under 2 minutes. To quote my friend, "It doesn't get much faster than that."

Upon reboot, the change was immediately noticeable. Applications launch immediately, and games don't "skip" or "pop". As I write this, I am monitoring SETI@home, and it appears that I could shave an hour off my workunit time.

Checking the system profiler, it was determined that OSX was using 256 megabytes alone. This pretty much meant that prior to the RAM upgrade, the operating system was monopolizing the system resources; any additional running programs were running under virtual memory.

I now have a computer that I am completely satisfied with -- at least for today. In a few years, this machine will become a dinosaur and will require replacement. When that happens, I imagine I will be raving about the next model. Sadly, the depreciation of technology is inevitable.

Piles Of Rock

Last night a few of my friends and I attended the Müle Shöe CD-Release Party. Entitled Piles of Rock, their CD is a reflection of their influences and roots. Take 2 parts Led Zeppelin, throw in 2 parts of Van Halen, and equal parts of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and AC/DC, and you would have something that sounded like Müle Shöe. The theater was packed, though a strange crowd. Müle Shöe is generally known around the local bar scene, but at least half of the theater was comprised of the under-18 crowd. They seemed to enjoy it all the same.

Yes, it was louder than heck.

After the concert, my friends and I found a watering hole to sing a few Karaoke numbers -- pretty much our intent was to have a few beverages, and show off our vocal talents. The bar was packed, which meant that we weren't going to be able to sing more than one or two numbers. So I picked Cheap Trick's Surrender, and CCR's Proud Mary, two numbers I have only sang once before, but I knew I could pull them both off.

With Proud Mary, you know that the whole bar is going to sing along. I heard them all singing over the PA. Of course they loved it. I was just relieved that nobody decided to jump on the stage and "help me out".

I nailed Surrender. I was also paying close attention to the crowd, as last time I sang this number it was in an empty pub, and I couldn't gauge whether or not this would be a song that the patrons would appreciate. We had a winner. There were tons of people singing along -- even a few patrons "banging their heads" to my performance. In addition, there were numerous screams and applause after my performance.

Today, I feeling the after-effects of last night's outing. I think I should be taking it easy for the rest of the day.

Science Fiction, or Fact?

I have been on a reading spree in the last few weeks. Many of you might attest it to the fact that I am without a computer, and for the most part, that is a correct assumption. I have recently finished reading Carl Sagan's Contact, the book that was transformed to the 1997 summer blockbuster movie. Since I saw the movie a number of years ago, I had longed to read the book, on the general premise that books are often more elaborate and detailed than movies are. I was hoping that the book would provide me with better insight to the physics behind the movie. I was particularly interested in how humans could receive a message from space, discover audio and video characteristics to the message, then interpolate digital data from interlaced frames from within the message, and then find a decryption primer that was hidden in a deeper layer of data. It seems that how Sagan describes the process in his book is quite a bit different from the methods described in the movie.

I shouldn't have to mention that the book is considerably different from the movie. The plots are quite different, even though the main themes remain the same. There are additional characters in the book that do not exist in the movie. Conversely, there had been legitimate scientific discoveries and current events that were interlaced with the movie to make it a little more authentic. Sagan of course, could have had no idea of the historical events of the late 1990's that seemingly complimented the events in his book that was first published in 1985.

The producer of the motion picture had done well in trying to combine current events and recent scientific discoveries to provide an authentic nature to the film. If you read Sagan's book, it would come across a little more like science fiction, reliant at times on technology that has not been invented yet, and on other times, on technology that has been invented, but has become obsolete or passé. Unfortunately, this is the common and disappointing nature of science fiction; is that technological advancement can sometimes surpass the ideas of the writer, and the integrity of the story can weaken. It often lessens the shelf life of such a book.

For example, in the book Contact, the staff of the SETI project Argus used a CRAY mainframe supercomputer to decrypt the message from space. When the book was written in 1985, a CRAY mainframe was one of the most advanced computers in the world. By today's standards, a CRAY isn't a terribly powerful computer, as UC Berkley is using millions of household computers to analyze space signals for the existence of intelligent life. The computing power of the SETI@home project is likely on the factor of millions of times more powerful than the CRAY computer depicted in Sagan's novel. I am not criticizing Carl Sagan; he was one of the most brilliant scientific minds of the Twentieth Century. How could he possibly know that there would become a thing as powerful as the internet, which single-handedly revolutionized the way we communicate and share information?

Speaking of the internet, and technologies of telecommunication, it seems that telephone companies are in fear of going bankrupt because programmers have found ways to use high-bandwidth modems to place long-distance phone calls for free. Long-distance phone calls used to be the bread and butter for telecommunications companies, but that no longer is the case. The telecommunications companies have had to migrate to cellular phone technology to provide them with the profits they once enjoyed. I am afraid, with the rapid development and implementation of Wi-Fi (wireless networking) that those days may be numbered as well. I suspect that within a generation, the word "long-distance" will no longer apply. Phone calls will be as cheap to make as it is to send an e-mail, and it would not matter if you send your phone call next door, or to Beijing.

It is the Darwinism of business and technology. Over the course of history, there are countless professions that have been made obsolete due to the advancement of technology. Even a century ago, there were "icemen" who delivered blocks of ice to the neighborhood for household cold storage. These people went out of business by the time the refrigerator hit the mass market. This might be the first time in history, that an industry so large and powerful, has the potential of crumbling under its' own weight.

The world is getting smaller day by day. It just seems that the telephone companies will have to change their marketing strategies if they expect to survive the next twenty years. I expect there will be a great deal of bankruptcies and corporate mergers in the decades to come as these telecommunications giants attempt to keep their books in the black amidst a technology that advances so quickly, it becomes obsolete within a year.

I unfortunately, have a difficult time swallowing the cellular phone pill. I just can't fathom that paying by the minute for your airtime on the phone is in any way economical. It's cheaper to place a phone call at a pay phone. When I had a cellular phone, I received phone bills that surpassed my monthly income. I would hope that sometime soon, that the digital revolution would make cellular technology not just affordable to everyone, but as economical as people's internet connection.

Convergence is inevitable.

The Name Game

Minor revisions to this site are taking place at a slothlike tempo. Some code revisions I have been responsible for, others are happening at their own accord. You may undoubtedly notice that the ads at the top of the page are gone (for good, I hope), and is replaced with a search bar. I am hoping that the meta tags will soon reach the Google mainframe, and then this site will be searchable. This will prevent me from getting all frustrated when I am poring over code, and likely prevent a few headaches as well.

The other major revision to this site is that the comments feature has been enabled on a trial run. The benefits of having the ability to post and read comments are limited only by the imagination; it is unfortunate that comments are usually abused on sites that generate a lot of traffic. At least at this point in time, this site generates very little traffic. So all you readers, be forewarned, your comments will be moderated by yours truly. Any comments that I deem to be inappropriate or offensive will be deleted. "And that's all I have to say... About that."

Ok, now for the fun part. Now that this site has been up and running for nearly four months, it is beginning to develop a bit of its own personality. One thing that is really starting to bug me -- it has since the beginning of this site, is the title. MC Fro's Blog. How utterly boring, unmoving, and unoriginal. The time has come to change the name. Suggestions (if any) are welcome. You can email them directly to me, or provide them in the comments section of the post. By the way, I expect the "inherent psychobabble... etc," subtitle will remain. I think it's cute.

I am also entertaining the idea of a background image. Perhaps a modified photo of me; perhpas an abstract image. Something subtle. Greys and blacks. Not unlike a subliminal message. Oh the fun that could be had with one of those!

Links have been added to the sidebar. They are mostly links that I have discussed in previous posts. The only other link that I have not yet mentioned is the link to SETI@home, the site where everybody with a computer can download a little program that runs when you're not at your computer and searches for little green men. I have been a member since 1998 and have completed something ridiculous like 1100 work units. Still no sign of E.T. My old little 266 iMac just doesn't have to spunk anymore to chew through all the algorithms. It used to take about 8 hours for the computer to work through a workunit. Nowdays, it takes something like 23 hours to get through one. I guess my mandate is that if you are not at your computer, you may as well put it to good use. You may argue wether looking for extraterrestrials is putting your computer to good use.

On a completely different tangent, I found this article amusing: Alice slams anti-Bush rockers. The article has not been copied to this page due to copyright issues.

I found it rather unsettling that Alice Cooper, whom I view to be a highly inteligent individual, feels that all other members of his profession are lazy, uninformed, uneducated, illiterate, party animals whom have no interest in politics. I really don't care whom Alice Cooper is voting for in this fall's presidential election. As far as I am concerned, he can say anything he wants about Kerry or Bush -- it's his right as an American. It's also the right of any other celeberty (or person) to say what they want about the electoral candidates. So Alice, for the record, just shut up and do what you do best: put on concerts. If you haven't noticed, Rock and Roll has become a highly political arena since the advent of Punk Rock in the 1970's -- or were you too stoned at the time to care or remember?