Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World Page #4

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And so as we pull back we

can see successive pages

coming up to connect with their sources

or with their linked contents.

His vision of links never materialized.

By some he was labeled

insane for clinging on.

There are two contradictory slogans.

One is that continuing to do the same thing

and expecting a different result

is the definition of insanity.

On the other hand, if at

first you don't succeed,

try, try again.

I prefer the latter because I don't want

to be remembered as the guy who didn't.

No, to us you appear to be

the only one around

who is clinically sane.

No one has ever said that before.

Usually I hear the opposite.

Thank you very much for talking with us.

It was wonderful.

Marvelous.

What a team.

Yes, now it's your turn.

Today the sheer numbers

of unpredictable players on the internet

has led to some of its greatest glories.

Fundamental research into cancer, AIDS,

and other diseases,

has been slowed down by a complex problem

which has to do with

the intricate folding of molecules.

Scientists using super computers

could not solve it.

Adrien Treuille was one of the creators

of a video game calling upon the community

of video gamers out there in the world.

Here we can see an RNA molecule

folded up into

this beautiful helical pattern,

it forms a helix,

and the amazing thing is that this pattern

is formed out of very, very simple rules

which pull it together

and create this shape.

And so it's a little bit like...

you can think of your hands

as there are simple rules

which determine how it can bend,

and then there are certain ways

in which it loves to come together

to form a compact shape

and that's just what these molecules

are doing in the body.

And your shirts, for example,

you are into shirt folding?

These molecules

fold up in much the same way

that a shirt folds.

You can imagine it starts

completely unfolded

and not at all suitable

to put in your drawer,

but if you follow very, very simple rules

it becomes this beautiful package

that you can then store and show.

We took the latest scientific models

of a biomolecule folding

and we created a game

and we put it on the web without

knowing what would happen

and without knowing if

it would be fun at all,

if anyone would come, and...

instantly people arrived

and they broke down the computers.

We had to build new computers.

And they played and they

spoke with one another

and they taught one another

about the science as non-experts,

and they began reading papers and they

began studying and understanding.

We have lawyers, we have school kids,

we have retired people,

we have bedridden people,

we have grandmas.

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