[lug] Seti at home

[metcalf at attglobal.net]

Actually, all the participants are being monitored by the Galactic
Federation.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh Brown" <hugh at math.byu.edu>
To: <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2000 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: [lug] Seti at home


> Seems like they could have been fraudulent (not that they were) from the
> start and been cracking large codes the whole time.  You download a
> block, crunch on it, turn in the results, get a new block, etc.  The
> whole time they have been working on cracking bank codes or something.
> Sounds like something out of conspiracy theory.  I doubt that this is
> actually the case, but what assurances do you have that the software is
> actually performing the function you think it is.  I guess you just have
> to trust the seti @home people.
>
> Interesting thinking though.
>
> Hugh
>
>
> Timothy Klein wrote:
> >
> > Wayde,
> >
> > You know, I had never really thought about it.  I just believed them.
Hmmm...?
> > Well, I think it is most likely that they are doing SETI work, but the
other
> > possibilities do exist.  I do watch my machine fairly closely, though,
and Seti
> > only makes outside connections when it finishes a work unit, and then to
the
> > same place for a short time.
> >
> > Got me thinking.
> >
> > Tim
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 11, 2000 at 09:33:48AM -0600, Wayde Allen wrote:
> > > On Thu, 10 Aug 2000, Timothy Klein wrote:
> > >
> > > > and my Seti at home times-per-work-unit went from time around 25 hours
to around
> > > > 7 hours.
> > >
> > > I have a really dumb question about Seti at home.  A while back I was
curious
> > > about this service and visited their web page.  One thing that seemed
> > > curiously missing for a service that people should volunteer to run on
> > > their home systems was a clear and concise description of the
software,
> > > the analyses to be done, the organization responsible for this code,
and
> > > especially a guarantee or some degree of assurance that it actually
does
> > > what they say it does.  With the current worry about network security
I
> > > find it interesting how commonly distributed accross the net this
program
> > > is without these kinds of assurances.  I haven't checked their web
site
> > > lately so perhaps this has changed, but I guess what I wonder is how
do
> > > you know that your machine is really working on Seti data rather than
> > > perhaps chewing on some encryption breaking code?
> > >
> > > - Wayde
> > >   (wallen at boulder.nist.gov)
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
>