Why do I get the feeling that this will not help humanity?
Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
31–40 of 47 posts
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#32Why do I get the feeling that this will not help humanity?
What even is the most generous, steelman argument of how this could help humanity prepare for a pandemic? The article just glossed over that part.
Because after Covid it sure seems like whatever it is, there are a lot of much lower hanging fruit as far as detection, early testing, contact tracing infrastructure, understanding what air is, etc that would do a lot more to prepare for the next pandemic.
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#33[flagged]
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#34I truthfully do not see the value (vs risk) in this kind of research. Humanity is too careless to do this kind of thing safely. Figure out better ways to model this in software instead, IM (uninformed) O.
There's a chance that being more informed might help form a different opinion more aligned with most informed people.
There's a chance the most informed people's salary depends on not understanding this. It takes a special kind of person to proclaim their profession is a danger to humanity and needs to be curtailed.
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#35I truthfully do not see the value (vs risk) in this kind of research. Humanity is too careless to do this kind of thing safely. Figure out better ways to model this in software instead, IM (uninformed) O.
As long as china and other countries refuse to operate sanitary food chains, the risk they represent will be 1000s of times higher than a high security lab. That is why so many zoonotic diseases come from such places and so few from the rest of the world. Don't "strain out a fly and swallow a camel"...
You might find it interesting to read up on the ways US agribusiness is trying to avoid food safety regulations!
https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/6547/dang...
Also I went to a shocking wet market the other weekend in Seattle. Raw fish on display, raw meat galore in coolers, produce, etc.
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#36In other news: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00283-y How many times would you be comfortable rolling a million-sided die for humanity's extinction?
Extinction is hyperbole. Even a lack of immunity to smallpox did not result in native Americans being wiped out by smallpox, although it did drastically lower their numbers.
Humanity will see a virus that causes its extinction only once.
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
As long as china and other countries refuse to operate sanitary food chains, the risk they represent will be 1000s of times higher than a high security lab. That is why so many zoonotic diseases come from such places and so few from the rest of the world. Don't "strain out a fly and swallow a camel"...
[flagged]
Why is that racist? It may be inaccurate or unproven, but that doesn't make it racist.
Isn't the leading theory that COVID-19 originated/spread from Wuhan's seafood market (with poor sanitation standards)?
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#38[flagged]
It's unlikely for years, or decades. The entire concept has been entirely and deliberately conflated with Trumpism, and any suggestion of a lab origin is met with a combination of outrage, gaslighting and deflection.
>any suggestion of a lab origin is met with a combination of outrage, gaslighting and deflection.
And downvotes. LOL.
The paper trail for Covid-19 and H5N1 bird flu show common threads that can't be ignored until they can be conclusively demonstrated to be wrong.
We are not there today. We won't ever get there either if people are against entertaining that option (lab leak) long enough to be able to locate the facts that will conclusively exclude it.
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's unlikely for years, or decades. The entire concept has been entirely and deliberately conflated with Trumpism, and any suggestion of a lab origin is met with a combination of outrage, gaslighting and deflection.
Yes, somehow it is considered racist and sinophobic to ask if the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, might possibly be related to the coronavirus research center in Wuhan. Jon Stewart says it best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSfejgwbDQ8
>it is considered racist and sinophobic to ask if the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, might possibly be related to the coronavirus research center in Wuhan.
These (name-calling) are the refuge of a coward who won't consider that they could be wrong because that possibility would call into question other parts of their tightly held beliefs.
Thanks for Jon Stewart, I miss that guy and his humorous way of presenting stories to his audience.
Re: Controversial experiments that could make bird flu more risky to resume (2019)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Trillions and trillions of mutations and still the most dangerous H5N1 viruses were created a decade ago by Fouchier and Kawaoka. And how did that help us prepare for the inevitable natural evolution of the same virus?
Sure, but that's only if you restrict it to H5N1 instead of looking at the history of Influenza A and things like the Spanish Flu, which was the most deadly disease in human history and derived from a mutated bird flu. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp058281 Even still, H5N1 has repeatedly infected humans in the wild... the most famous case in Hong Kong infecting 18 people and killing 6 of those. So you can…
That would be the case if GoF research was necessary to defend against these viruses, but that’s not the case. AFAIK, GoF research played no part in the development of vaccines and treatments for Covid.