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I don't know much about molecular structures, but it's a really interesting subject. The crowdsourcing aspect of this is also something that makes me believe a

I don't know much about molecular structures, but it's a really interesting subject. The crowdsourcing aspect of this is also something that makes me believe a little more in human kind. Of course, if some idealistic crowd were to find the cure for AIDS or a HIV vaccine, some big corporation would surely claim the patents on it or something; it is of course highly ethical to earn big bucks on others' misery, instead of just getting the cure out there to the masses. This story reminds me of the pilot of Stargate Universe, by the way. The gamers will get to go to space now, right..?

earl 15y ago
To be fair: (1) Finding the molecular conformation is only a tiny piece of the puzzle. (2) If we were to discover a vaccine for HIV, many countries such as India, Thailand, Brazil, and China would instantly break any necessary patents. This is at it should be -- the countries that can afford it fund R&D and those that can't share in the results.
- archangel_one 15y ago
  Something along the lines of a smaller version of (2) happened some years back in South Africa, since they've got a higher rate of HIV than any other country. IIRC, they were ignoring patents and manufacturing various medicines locally instead. Token citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_South_Africa#2001 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_South_Africa#2001
  - Haraldson 15y ago
    Yeah, good to know. These countries are probably too big even for big drug corps to take on. Do you know anything about the quality of the locally manufactured drugs you mentioned, by the way?
deleted 15y ago
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silentific 15y ago
Had the same thought about Stargate. "Sometime in 2009, Wallace started playing an online game called Prometheus, and in the course of the game he solved a math problem in order to advance to the game's next level. But unbeknownst to him, the problem that Eli solved was actually an Ancient mathematical proof that was procured from the Ancient Database, and that Stargate Command had created the game in an effort to find someone who could solve it." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Wallace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Wallace

earl 15y ago

To be fair: (1) Finding the molecular conformation is only a tiny piece of the puzzle. (2) If we were to discover a vaccine for HIV, many countries such as India, Thailand, Brazil, and China would instantly break any necessary patents. This is at it should be -- the countries that can afford it fund R&D and those that can't share in the results.

archangel_one 15y ago
Something along the lines of a smaller version of (2) happened some years back in South Africa, since they've got a higher rate of HIV than any other country. IIRC, they were ignoring patents and manufacturing various medicines locally instead. Token citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_South_Africa#2001 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_South_Africa#2001
- Haraldson 15y ago
  Yeah, good to know. These countries are probably too big even for big drug corps to take on. Do you know anything about the quality of the locally manufactured drugs you mentioned, by the way?

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

silentific 15y ago

Had the same thought about Stargate. "Sometime in 2009, Wallace started playing an online game called Prometheus, and in the course of the game he solved a math problem in order to advance to the game's next level. But unbeknownst to him, the problem that Eli solved was actually an Ancient mathematical proof that was procured from the Ancient Database, and that Stargate Command had created the game in an effort to find someone who could solve it." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Wallace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Wallace