Rely On The Kindness Of Strangers

Submitted by tonyplant on June 9, 2006 - 17:52.

According to Wired, researcher David Baker is relying on the kindness of strangers to generate the key to an AIDS vaccine or a cure for cancer by creating a virtual super-computer. Sometimes, in addition to techno-stars, we need basic services and kindnesses. An individual contribution to Baker's search for scientific solutions might be

that old PC sitting under a layer of dust in your closet or the one on your desk doing little else but running a screen saver.

Baker's Rosetta@home project is putting together the spare computing power of tens of thousands of PCs throughout the world to work away at scientific problems over the internet. Owners install free software on the PCs and

when the machine is idle, it figures out how an individual protein — a building block of life — might fold or contort, displaying the possibilities in a screen saver. When the PC is done crunching, it sends the results back to Baker's team and grabs more work.

More than 60,000 people currently donate computer time and Baker is looking to increase that number ten-fold.

Rosetta@home is a tremendously exciting project and is creating virtual communities of people who feel actively involved in the research effort and the potential medical impact of the work. What would happen if we could harness people's goodwill to produce a virtual community of people willing to improve their own well-being and that of others? In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell promotes the idea that small actions can spark “social epidemics”, that are good for our well-being. What small actions could we do and what would we be willing to do? Is the greatest apprehension the fear of the open-ended commitment and of exploitation? Does the Rosetta@home project work because there is a clearly defined limit to the contributions (e.g., spare computing power, when the computer is turned on?).

In a way, the project reminds me of an event a few years ago when Laughter Leaders boarded the London Underground and gave laughter sessions on the packed trains. People were initially uncertain about whether they were going to be hit up for donations or if this was a TV stunt. However, once people loosened up, and their anxieties had been allayed, the people who joined in enjoyed themselves. Would I have the courage to do this without other Laughter Leaders present? No? Do I sometimes wish I had the courage to do this when everybody on the Underground is looking particularly dour? Yes, sometimes. I can think of too many reasons for not attempting something that might be "the right thing" for fear of social awkwardness.

Some researchers advocate that a hassles and uplifts index is a better method for  assessing people's happiness and wellbeing than the more usual scoring mechanism that only recognises recent, major life-events. Strangers can have a remarkable impact on these hassles and uplifts: the kindess of strangers can make a remarkable difference to our lives. Kindness is both the main entrance and the service entry on which we depend. Gladwell ends The Tipping Point with the assertion that

what must underlie successful epidemics, in the end, is a bedrock belief that change is possible, that people can radically transform their behavior or beliefs in the face of the right kind of impetus.

Providing that “right kind of impetus” is part of the work of social enterprises. It is part of our willingness to accept the idea that we can affect our own well-being and that of others.

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project

wellbeing | resilience | positive emotion | laughter