SETI@Home was the coolest thing

I still remember it decades ago, sitting at home, staring at graphics on my screen, staring at graphs of it processing data.

I felt like I was contributing to something. And for the time and the era that it was in, the graphics were cool. The graphs were cool.

The guy who thought that up should get an award. What a way to take a non-profit program, and turn it into something of beauty. What are way to engage the public!

It was groundbreaking, new and unique And in me, it just produces fond memories.

This seems to be missing from the modern web. I think it's almost like a small town feel, that flare of uniqueness that you get when you know everybody in the town. The web is just gone, past that point, never to return.

20 points | by b112 20 hours ago

6 comments

  • spl757 7 hours ago
    SETI@Home used unused CPU in the form of a screensaver to comb through data sets that came from the famous, but now destroyed, Aricebo radio telescope. Such a shame what happened to it.
  • fiftyacorn 13 hours ago
    I miss the old days. I remember there being an experimental one to break i think 40k encryption to get everyone to up their level
  • pseingatl 18 hours ago
    I remember that some signal captures were deemed worthy of further investigation. What happened?
  • hash0 17 hours ago
    Isn't there something similar available today, but with protein folding?
    [-]
  • andyjohnson0 13 hours ago
    This isn't a place for hosting your blog posts. Instead why not put this on an external site, expand on it a bit, and submit a link? Thats how HN works.
  • andrevalleee 18 hours ago
    [flagged]