41–50 of 156 posts
A thread by an epidemiologist on the new results: https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1223305946723704832
This has been pointed out in previous threads, but this Twitter is full of alarmist unscientific BS and it appears to be spammed with some regularity on HN recently.
And what is the probability that this is not just a third type of major coronavirus, but in fact a secret bioweapon?
Knowing how commonly there are arguments about mixed up samples in the biolabs friends work in, I know where I would place my bets.
to someone who doesn’t know anything about the relevant science (me) the use of the word “insertions” seems to imply this was engineered. Can someone who actually understands this explain what this document is saying?
Well, the conclusion of this paper is that the odds of this virus coming to be naturally are very small. Which is a very scientific way of saying "we think this was man-made". But, that is what the paper is saying. Extraordinary claims, extraordinary evidence is what I think. I feel the evidence here is quite small, but I'm not a bio-data-scientist.
That said: What are the priors on a "natural" virus erupting in the only city in China with a level 4 biohazard facility?
Source: http://english.www.gov.cn/state_council/ministries/2018/01/0...
A thread by an epidemiologist on the new results: https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1223305946723704832
What are the geopolitical ramifications if this is indeed a bioweapon?
If someone with deep pockets may be liable, there will be a well funded effort to debunk this.
I thought detecting intelligent design in the genetic code was impossible and bad science.
Detecting intelligent design in things is done all the time. Teacup dachshunds are intelligently designed. So's corn and broccoli. Throwing your hands up and saying "God must've done it!" when you don't have an immediate explanation and can't be bothered to do some research into one is the bad science part.
A religious flamewar on top of whatever else we've got here is the last thing this thread needs!
This is especially interesting since there have been reports that China was testing HIV treatments on patients with the coronavirus: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-abbvie-hiv/c...