Are you looking for intellectual stimulation? Or something else? If the former, read Bram Cohen's paper on BitTorrent. A lot of academics were working on the p

Are you looking for intellectual stimulation? Or something else? If the former, read Bram Cohen's paper on BitTorrent. A lot of academics were working on the peer to peer buzzword right after Napster came out. Bram's work shook that little corner of academia IMHO. Academics regained their footing with the horde of DHT papers that followed ala Chord, Pastry, etc. I think Cassandra uses these ideas.