ThinkCycle: Solving World Problems With A Cluster of Brains

eaglemoon writes: "ThinkCycle is an MIT Media Lab project to apply SETI@Home principles to design problems for underserved communities. Only, intead of donating spare cpu cycles, you donate spare 'think cycles.' Their aim is to build a community of designers, inventors and innovators that want to collaborate on developing novel solutions to some what intractable problems like clean water access , cholera treatment and appropriate shelters. Their aim is to encourage an "open source" ethos for tough design and technology challenges."

enough problems

[TimButterfield]

That should probably be 'apply SETI@Home principles to design challenges." If the communites are underserved, they have enough problems already without designing more.

so let me get this straight

[lingqi]

you will be providing the lazy-boys w/ a hole cut out of the head rest, as well as the necessary implants to the back of my head where a spiky-thingy can be shoved, right? and for the hardcore there is always the "donate some spare electricity" version complete with plexiglass goo-bucket and full interface including "liquified dead" being "intraveneously fed" into my blood stream?

cool

Because all you need to solve the world's...

[SIGFPE]

...problems is more CPU.

I don't have any to spare

[NineNine]

Sorry, but any "spare cycles" my brain has are going towards figuring out how I'm gonna pay my bills in this piss-poor economy.

Re:Great!

[Tarquin Sidebottom]

Why limit "open source ethos" to advancing the human race? Why not use it to get the average /. geek laid? Yes, all of you with your spare sex cycles, come together [no pun intended] and embace the wonder of the human body!

* puts on his tin hat and hides under the desk *

open source ethos

[Lord Omlette]

"Their aim is to encourage an "open source" ethos for tough design and technology challenges."

Redesign the wheel and tell the underserved community members to RTFM if they have a problem using the redesigned wheel?

Could you please tell me..

[Kwil]

what part of "society's most complex and vexing problems" is solved by the creation of the 'singing big-mouth bass'?

If this is such a good idea

[Anonymous Coward]

how come it wasn't thought up by hundreds of collaborating geniuses?