Layperson asks: Folding@Home worthwhile?

[guanxi]

> > I have no
> > idea if I'm wasting CPU cycles on this particular project.  I could
> > use them for something more practical, like finding broadcasts from
> > intelligent alien lifeforms (i.e. SETI).

> But I don't really see running SETI at Home as practical as Folding at Home.  What,
> exactly, would be the benefit of finding intelligent aliens on the other side
> of the galaxy?  They could be malicious.  Communicatinig with them would take millenia.
> We would probably never get to meet them in person.  etc.


Maybe they're broadcasting the principles of protein folding...