Few reasons distributed/grid computing project of this sort deterred my participation. The following are the ones that weighted most to me.

1. Global greenhouse impact and carbon footprint attributed by internet usage alone account for 3.7% and is expected to double by 2025. See: Lean ICT Towards Digital Sobriety

Source: Climate Crisis: The Unsustainable Use Of Online Video

Not included in this big picture are the factors due to cryptocurrencies mining and a similar project such as F@H. As of Nov 2018, Bitcoin Minning itself took in 45.8 terawatt-hours of electricity per year that contributed around 23 megatons of Carbon Dioxide emissions annually. Effects of alleviated Carbon Dioxide level or global warming have been documented aplenty from disruption of ecosystem-level processes, evolutionary change, the proliferation of viral-bacterial interactions and cross over, etc.



2. There are theoretical limitations and inaccuracies on methods used for Protein Structure Prediction (Folding or Misfolding).

Source: CAMEO-3D: Protein Structure 3-months Performance (2019-12-20 - 2020-03-14)

… in continuation of.

6. Recruited downstream platforms operated on the Principle of Voluntarism. Often time nodes in distributed computing will be ranked in statistical ladder by workloads contribution. The sense of affords, gratifications and euphoria for donating a node’s computing resources end in the solutions pipeline without much governing of any responsible institution or legislative curtain for exploitation.

What are the beneficial returns with respect to adversities?


Source: Anger In Germany At Report Trump Seeking Exclusive Coronavirus Vaccine Deal