Living Car Free - Distributed computing and electricity use

I can leave my computer or PS3 on all day, working on large calculations related to potentially finding a cure for cancer, or life on other planets, or something similarly important. Doing so uses more electricity, which is bad for the world.

So, which is best? Save energy, or cure cancer?

My electricity comes from Ecotricity (www.ecotricity.co.uk), so it's about as green as it can get, though in reality, since I'm connected to the grid, it still comes mostly from fossil fuels.

I'd vote for "turn the computer off", mainly because I think you can do more good by giving the money away to a good cause.

I also recommend http://givewell.net or http://thelifeyoucansave.com for suggestions about how to get "bang for your buck" if you do give away the savings.

I don't know the answer, but I recommend turning your computer off and thinking about it for a few minutes. :)

The energy has already been generated, cure cancer. In fact the more you buy green energy the more revenue they have to develop new green projects. Now you're helping along two positive things.

While electrik makes a good point, I also vote for shutting it off; my reasoning is simple.

The "cancer cure" community contains elements that will likely not let the true cure come to light! It's become a business, like most others, and a cure will put them OUT of business!

Call me a conspiracy nut, or paranoid, or whatever -- it's happened before, and humans are still humans.

I dont like to be negative, but, the one thing that makes climate change a danger to us all is the size of the human population on the earth; so a cure for cancer might just make that worse.
What we need is mother nature to cut our population in half!

S

I dont like to be negative, but, the one thing that makes climate change a danger to us all is the size of the human population on the earth; so a cure for cancer might just make that worse.
What we need is mother nature to cut our population in half!

S

Don't worry your plump, rosy English face... just like today, i'm sure the majority of people(the world's poor) won't have access to the cures.

I dont like to be negative, but, the one thing that makes climate change a danger to us all is the size of the human population on the earth; so a cure for cancer might just make that worse.
What we need is mother nature to cut our population in half!

S


Awesome!

I didn't know Jonathan Swift was still posting to Internet forums.

Awesome!

I didn't know Jonathan Swift was still posting to Internet forums.

You mean the good Reverend Thomas Malthus.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Apocalypse_vasnetsov.jpg/800px-Apocalypse_vasnetsov.jpg

No, I was thinking Jonathan Swift....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

...because one can only assume the "let them die of cancer" post was a satire.

Leave the computer on but unplug the monitor.

I didn't mention before that I work nights. As I understand it power stations keep making energy nobody is using at night, is this correct?

You've all brought up some interesting points, but on balance I think I'll leave stuff on, doing something worthwhile - my PS3 is only otherwise used to play games, and that's pretty difficult to sell as a good reason to use electricity! My laptop has more processing power than I need, so again, it makes sense to do something with it. The screen will of course be off, only the processor, hard disc, and of course fan will be running.

Unless you use the extra heat from the PS3 to warm your living room, I say skip it.

Not to mention that it shortens the life of the console.

(I used to support gaming consoles, so trust me on this)

The leave-no-trace technique would be to not have a computer to turn on. If you needed one, go to the library.

(Full disclosure: practicing what I preach... not my forté .)

Almost all cancers have been cured many times. Don't bother helping researchers with it. They're just sucking up time and money. Searching for extra terrestrial life sounds fun, though proof of their existence already exists. Do what you want with your electricity if you want to pay for it.

Power companies maintain a constant level of power all day and night even though the demand drops in the evenings. Solar and wind power generators operate in a different way. Gas, coal, and nuclear plants just set their power production as close to the maximum they need for the day and leave them that way. It takes too long for them to slow down or speed up their production.

Anybody interested in reading testimonials about diseases or conditions being cured should visit http://DoNotDieYet.blogspot.com and download the larger PDF file (it's the one on the left). This is my site. There is a patent entitled Epithelial Cell Cancer Drug within the file. The abstract portion of it tells the story. Remove toxins and amazingly the body heals itself.

I've sent this patent to or contacted cancer research foundations. NONE of them are interested in it. That says a lot about their motives. Sorry to get a bit off track. Hypocrisy is one of my pet peeves especially when it comes to important life altering things.

sevenhills: +1