X-Message-Number: 12930
From: "George Smith" <>
References: <>
Subject: The real significance of IBM's Blue Gene project
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 12:23:02 -0800

RHA suggested in Message #12925 that the announcement by IBM regarding the
"Blue Gene" computer project was a cover for purposes other than "protein
folding".  He wrote:

> You really think IBM's gonna waste that on protein folding?

Certainly once "Blue Gene" is built there will be many uses for it, but is
the "protein folding" not the primary one?  It sounded as though you had
something more specific in mind, Rick.  Could you elaborate on this?  You
made direct reference to comparing it to the computing power of the human
mind, but I didn't follow what you were alluding to.

Two thoughts did come to my mind:

(1) If this is a "cover story" to dodge the hidden "real" purpose behind
this $100,000,000 project, then IBM must have nevertheless expected that the
cover story would be believable.  This would be further evidence that IBM
takes it for granted that (a) there is money to be made on a grand scale
from protein folding and (b) other knowledgeable people already accept that
this is true also.

If IBM is putting out a cover story, they would choose a cover story which
is likely to be believed.  Thus we may assume that at least IBM expects that
spending $100 million on developing a computer capable of resolving the
problems involved with protein folding is BELIEVABLE BY OTHERS.

(2) If the above is true, then IBM ITSELF would believe that protein folding
is profitable enough to justify the $100 million project.  And it that is
true, then IBM does not need ANY OTHER REASON to develop this super
computer.  If it can make money (and IBM wants to make money) then there is
no need to assume there must be a conspiracy here.  That doesn't mean there
isn't a conspiracy.  It just means there doesn't need to be one for IBM to
make money on this.

The conclusions I draw from this are two:

(1) IBM fully intends to make big money from protein folding, more than
enough to justify a $100 million expenditure.

(2) IBM believes that other giants of industry fully understand the profit
potential in this area, that it does not require any leap of imagination on
the part of others to recognize this.

I feel certain that there will be many other purposes to which this new
super tool will be put to use, however I don't think that IBM is foolish
enough to create a cover story for a five year long project which is
unbelievable.  If IBM said that they were creating "Blue Gene" to track the
sale of Levi trousers in Japan, that wouldn't fool anyone and would defeat
the purpose of a cover story.

No, I strongly suspect that IBM is simply demonstrating what I attempted to
suggest some months ago:  Big Money will go after medical advances because
it is highly profitable to do so.  As the Big Boys (Blue Chip companies like
IBM) swing into action creating the tools needed to make serious advances in
medical research, the spin-offs will enable us to solve our problems to
achieve cryonic resuscitation, most probably through the development of
molecular nanotechnology.

The real significance of Blue Gene is not whether it is a technological
breakthrough, or only a "follow through" on current technology (as I believe
Thomas Donaldson was suggesting in his message# 12926 about parallel
processing).

The real significance is that $100 million has been dedicated to solving a
problem I was told less than a month ago here on the Cryonet was essentially
unsolvable.

IBM disagrees.  And they have put their money where their mouth is to prove
it.

And we benefit directly from THEIR efforts and money.  Not bad.

Best wishes to all,

George Smith
www.cryonics.org
Ray Charles was right!

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12930