A Call To All Superheroes!

September 20, 2012

I am a superhero, and at this very moment, I am helping to save the world. I don’t show off like some superheroes you’ve seen. I don’t wear the flashy costume or fly over the city or bend steel beams with my bare hands. Still, I am making the world a little bit better every day. As I brush my teeth or eat a sandwich or watch a movie, I am making a difference.

Your computer holds a powerful processor; the tasks you give it only use a tiny fraction of its massive potential. Most of the time your processor is just sitting there, twiddling its little cyber-fingers, waiting for your next command, and possibly planning to take over the world. You can harness that mighty power for good by joining the World Community Grid. 

The WCG downloads a small, safe program that runs in the background of your computer. Once it is installed, it downloads small jobs that only run when your computer processor is idling (which is pretty much most of the time). When the jobs are done, they are returned to WCG to be combined with other people’s work. Once you have done the first installation, you never have to look at it again. WCG is mild-mannered and polite; it waits patiently in the background when your computer is busy and works silently on its projects when the computer is idling. I never see it download the jobs or upload the results, but I can check on my work at any time by going to the WCG website.

There are always several projects running. You can choose what you want to work on or take anything they send. In the past few years, I have worked on clean water projects, treatments for anthrax and cancer, and helped map the human genome and many other worthy goals. I am proud to be a modest superhero!

Florence C.
Boardwalk Branch