Mithras Pan

Actually... it's a complicated story but your version is slightly incorrect.
https://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/
 
The first PS3s ran Linux and Sony even used it as a soft-sell and one of the early accessories was a 'PC Kit' with a keyboard and mouse... I want to say that there was also an included HDD and that for a while was the only way to get a larger than stock HDD...
 
When the PS3 was announced it was Linux and backwards-compatibility with PS1 and PS2 games that got my attention. I was off doing life at the time so never actually owned a 3... but my want disappeared as soon as they pulled support.
 
All that said- I respect the attempt on Sony's part to make a console with a toe in the PC world as opposed to PCs that play games and I expect that there is likely a good reason for why made them pull support... I wouldn't be surprised if there was a legal threat somewhere that put them at risk of having  a problem by not maintaining an official PS3 distro.
 
(Fun Fact: there was a US Air Force research initiative that built a cluster out of nearly 2,000 PS3s...
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/3/20984028/playstation-supercomputer-ps3-umass-dartmouth-astrophysics-25th-anniversary )

You just trust that your processing contribution is being used for the greater good. My experience with distributed computing goes back to the early days of SETI@home, with brief revisit/initial introduction to F@H years ago and I immediately booted my desktop to install when I saw the LTT video about there being COVID WUs to process.
 
I don't understand the science of it, but I trust in the theory of the technology. They have simulations to run and if they say that I have the processing ability to help them... just sitting there... normally collecting dust, occasionally getting getting booted for a couple hours of a random game? Sure... I'll help.
 
Trust in the science. Trust that you can contribute something that will help someone smart in a different way than you.