Finding My Way and Voice By Learning and Sharing

A new friend from Japan recently asked what was most important to us about the Internet or the Web.  She thought it might be finding what is newest fast.   As I have continued writing and sharing on Google Plus through my comments and posts, my mind has changed about what is most important for me.  It used to be finding the new and knowing about it fast, but that has changed dramatically as I've built a community of friends.

For me, it is just as important, perhaps more important, to find a community of friends who I am able to grow intellectually and ethically with rather than to find the newest.  I did share the best article I could find yesterday on that big 55 feet in diameter meteorite which exploded over Southern Siberia.  That was new, but it was of twelve of the best videos out there along with some very good commentary and news.  It came from an unusual news source, PC Magazine, but it was a lot of work by the staff there and many people appreciated my sharing.  Often, we share interests in science, current events, history, and man and womens' search for meaning.  We find our voice together and think about how we can make this world and our places in it a better place.  

My emphasis these days is on citizen science projects and distributed computing.  I search for a way to be engaged and participate.   I've been making some posts recently about citizen science projects here.  One very good site is OpenScientist.org  Here is a post that I found particularly useful.     http://www.openscientist.org/p/distributed-computing-project-open-for.html   Personally I am very engaged in Seti@Home and in several disease fighting distributed computing projects and turn my powerful computers and their unused CPU and dedicated graphics processors loose to find new cures and new medications as well as find new molecules that may take advantage of molecular weaknesses in disease bacteria, viruses, and dna/reproduction.    It is very rewarding although being dedicated has a cost in additional electricity.  Right now those big powerful Intel i7 cpu's and Nvidia GTX 550 Ti graphics cards consume about $60 or so per month of extra electricity.  I can afford it and it is well worth it because I have learned a tremendous amount on how to use my computers more effectively and solve sticky issues with conflicts between my OS  Windows 7 and some of Nvidia's software upgrades. 

I think to sum it up, I try to learn effectively; make sense of my place in the world, and try to share what I have learned.    I use it most as a learning, discovery, and sharing tool.  That's what my very best friends on Google Plus as well as on the Internet, and elsewhere do too.  What do you think?

You can find additional posts and comments by me at my Google Plus Blog.  The url is:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108713721375842222592/posts