Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The media's lab leak fiasco

slowboring.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

641–650 of 736 posts

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#641

Post by aliasEli »

XorNot wrote: post #370
wearywanderer wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Specifically, the lab leak theory more or less assumes that the virus was collected from the mine, taken to Wuhan, and some research and experiments were done on it, resulting it some changes. I disagree, the lab leak hypothesis is independent from the lab [inadvertently or deliberately] mutating the virus. The lab may have merely possessed the virus, having made only the mistake of transporting the virus from a re…

So here's the thing: the more improbable thing about the lab leak hypothesis is that the lab would even have had enough virus, in virion form, to cause even 1 human infection. Biological materials are hard to grow and store. Very few people have ever been infected from handling corpses from much more pathogenic viruses (i.e. the black death was one of the only significant ones, and that's because it's a bacterium). A…

> Biological materials are hard to grow and store. In general, many diseases are highly species specific and/or affect only certain cell types. When you don't have a suitable cell line, the only real option is to keep live hosts. But these hosts could cross-contaminate other species/cell lines within the lab facility. Bat physiology is very different from most other mammals. If you want to study viruses in bats, it makes sense to use real animals, because you can be certain that the virus replicates in vivo, but it can be difficult to find a good in vitro environment.

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#643

Post by mhh__ »

99_00 wrote: post #152
908B64B197 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting how media coverage completely changed. Under the previous administration it was considered racist to even mention the theory and it's proponents were considered racists or conspiracy theorists. Why such a sudden change? China certainly didn't change its position on the issue...

Mainstream media no longer sees CCP as an ally against their domestic political opponents.

I think the term Ally is a bit strong.

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#644

Post by ianai »

dougmwne wrote: post #339
nfoz wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and have experienced what you wrote, except I have no idea what your last paragraph means. What are you referring to / talking about? It feels like maybe an example of the phenomenon we're talking about lol

What I mean is to really address climate change all 8 billion of us are going to have to come together and make huge changes to our lives and each make personal sacrifices for the greater good. There will be new government mandates and it will affect how we live and work. There will be a huge social pressure to conform and a huge backlash. But we will have no choice because our environment will have changed to be mor…

Society definitely needs to learn the internet is not the end all and be all. Take it with a large grain of salt unless you’re literally reading peer reviewed articles from reputable sources. Or it’s like a cooking recipe that you can verify for yourself and the stakes of being wrong are low. Even news should only be taken as a springboard for what’s going on.

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#646

Post by mcphage »

Moodles wrote: post #597
mcphage wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are a number of other replies that come straight from MAGA-verse

Here's a tip: stop saying shit like "MAGA-verse" and try to talk to people, assuming they're good human beings with honest intentions.

I’m quoting the person you’re talking about. You claimed they’re saying you’re from the magaverse, when they were explicitly referring to "other comments".

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#647

Post by aliasEli »

Actually I believe it would be better if we never find the true origin of COVID-19.

It has drawn attention to:

- Improving handling of live animals

- Improving lab procedures for biological materials

If we would know the true origin, less attention would be given to other scenario's that are also quite possible for other diseases.

Also, the current attacks on China will only cause it to be even more suspicious about foreign contacts, and that could hurt international cooperation in future pandemics.

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#648

Post by philjohn »

RV86 wrote: post #243
philjohn wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read spillover a few years ago, which is all about zoonotic crossover events, would recommend it, even if it is a bit dry in parts. The problem is, as an expansionist species we're naturally going to encroach on natural reservoirs for pathogens. The smoking gun of people working at the virology institute may yet turn out to be nothing more than a red herring, if they live and work in the epicentre of where the outb…

I wanted to add -- the two most compelling pieces of information I've seen that make the lab accident theory more plausible to me are: 1) The verified existence of the bat-originating corona virus that killed 3 miners with Pneumonia some years ago being housed/researched in the WIV 2) David Baltimore of Cal Tech's remark ""When I first saw the furin cleavage site in the viral sequence, with its arginine codons, I sai…

But then again other people have explained the furin cleavage site exists in other beta coronaviruses - so making a definitive "smoking gun" statement without further research seems premature.

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#649

Post by sharperguy »

shaicoleman wrote: post #459
CiceroCiceronis wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A recently released meta—analysis from the British Medical Journal suggests that the evidence base for ivermectin’s efficacy in treating COVID-19 is low. https://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2021/05/26/bmjebm-2021-111...

If you'll look carefully, you'll see that's a non peer-reviewed opinion piece. That's a prime example of disinformation, and indeed the most reputable journals unfortunately play a role in it. Just to rebut the first thing random thing I saw: "An important controversial point to consider in any rationale is the 5 µM required concentration to reach the anti-SARS-CoV-2 action of ivermectin observed in vitro,17 which is…

Notice how if the same censorship rules were applied here, this entire conversation would be disallowed, and no learning on the topic could take place.

Re: The media's lab leak fiasco

#650

Post by planetree »

nescioquid wrote: post #438
scottrogowski wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should be the top comment. Social media companies can either be monopolies or they can put limits on the speech of their platform... but they can't do both. While not against the law of freedom of speech, political moderation processes are certainly against the intent. Every once in a while we get a case like this where an unpopular fringe opinion becomes mainstream and underlines the point. But this isn't just…

I agree with you in spirit, though I feel like the issue is more about whether social media are common carriers [1] or publishers. They shield themselves when they claim to be a carriers, yet act like publishers. The monopoly aspect, I agree, would be more important to speech, given they behave as publishers of what you may as well consider on-spec content. I'd like to get clear on to what degree they should be consi…

They're publishers: they profit from advertising from content, and don't charge a carrier fee. Seems simple enough.
Post reply on HN