611–620 of 664 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, playing with fire, by creating an environment that would hyper-evolve virus better than random natural species interactions.
SARS-CoV-2 is a really contagious virus, but as long as the biosecurity is perfect, there is no risk.
There is no such thing as 100% security.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Enlightened or not, it's accurate. Trump was actually president and now Biden's administration is raising 'deep concerns'. We knew or should have known the virus was coming for months before it was a problem in the US. It would take an incredibly enlightened politician not to try and scapegoat China for our failures, and they know this. Why gamble on our goodwill amidst all this rhetoric?
If a country lied and kept information from the public and had internal propaganda which convinced a significant portion of the population that the US was in fact responsible, and it was transferred from the US to China, I would be quite concerned as well. The difference is that here our scientists can speak publicly, and in China that is not the case. China's behavior is concerning.
Even with this data US and other western countries dismissed it as non-threat for over 3mos while ridiculing China for 'draconian measures' and violating human rights.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fort Detrick was a bio weapons lab that has since closed but US has plenty more around the world, and likely, many that are undisclosed.
Fort Detrick and all other US bio weapons ceased research in offensive bioweapons in 1969. One reason is that bioweapons can't be controlled, as evidenced by the failure thus far to control this virus. So no, it's not likely that there are undisclosed US bio weapons research sites; that's just propaganda. While I don't trust the CCP a bit, I also doubt that China is pursuing bioweapons research, for the same reason:…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Detrick#2019_closure_and_...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The CCP consists of 90M+ party members who represent all facets of society--larger than entire population of Germany. Include family members and it's 300M+ almost size of US. Furthermore, it's an integral part of Chinese society with overwhelming support among its citizens (>90%). The CCP is continuation of past dynasties operating under the 'Mandate of Heaven' to serve the people. Failure to do so and it will be rep…
They are not mindless robots. They are doing the best the can living in a totalitarian state operating the most sophisticated internal surveillance ever. How can you claim they the CCP has support with a straight face? First, says who? CCP-controlled media? Second, would the average Chinese person answer honestly? Third, the Chinese have never experienced real democracy. Asking them if they support the CCP is meaning…
As for 'real democracy' no country has it least of all the US which more accurately an oligarchic plutocracy with power held by select few/wealthy(ie top 1%).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree on the Taiwan front, that's BS and annoying. But given WHO needed as much of China's cooperation at that time I can understand not wanting to aggravate them. Really... Japan... because there is no history of tension between China and Japan that would make me doubt Japan's agenda here. WHO is an international organisation, literally people from around the world work there... are ALL of these people actually se…
Let's assume that at least some key superiors at WHO are biased, but the majority of the lower-level investigators are honest and not especially biased. What can the WHO superiors do to try to prevent the investigation from producing an embarrassing report? Stratagems that come to mind: choose which investigators to send, choose who to lead the teams of investigators, get involved in writing up the final reports (eit…
They still have confirmed that it is not a lab grown virus, and have consistently confirmed it’s from the wild.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The CCP consists of 90M+ party members who represent all facets of society--larger than entire population of Germany. Include family members and it's 300M+ almost size of US. Furthermore, it's an integral part of Chinese society with overwhelming support among its citizens (>90%). The CCP is continuation of past dynasties operating under the 'Mandate of Heaven' to serve the people. Failure to do so and it will be rep…
I think the logic in this argument is faulty. The CCP is an institution. Your argument implies that belonging to an institution means agreeing 100% with every single decision of the institution. As, an example, imagine we are talking about a specific action Google took. While you could argue that all Google employees have some kind of responsibility in action s the company takes, would you argue that the millions of…
What distinguishes CCP from western governments is that party membership and advancement is based on meritocracy not populism resulting in only the most qualified/accomplished rising to positions of leadership.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the logic in this argument is faulty. The CCP is an institution. Your argument implies that belonging to an institution means agreeing 100% with every single decision of the institution. As, an example, imagine we are talking about a specific action Google took. While you could argue that all Google employees have some kind of responsibility in action s the company takes, would you argue that the millions of…
No, the CCP is the governing body of China which is a sovereign entity. CCP contains multiple factions representing all facets of society hence 90M+ membership who do not all agree and have agendas. What distinguishes CCP from western governments is that party membership and advancement is based on meritocracy not populism resulting in only the most qualified/accomplished rising to positions of leadership.
What makes the CCP like the West, though it's different in other ways, is that advancement in the CCP is based largely on the convenience of your views and actions to the established elites, which is only “meritocracy” to the extent that “advancing the interests of the established elites” is “merit”.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. Government is just people trying to do triage, discern signal from noise, coordination, move the ball forward... with a bunch of other people. People expect too much. It's amazing anything works at all. We should all marvel at the progress we've somehow achieved thus far. While striving too do better, of course.
You have a much more charitable view of those in government then I do. The motivation you suggest may apply to some people, sometimes, in some places but certainly not all people in all governments much and perhaps even most of the time. Self interest, corruption, the desire for power, the desire for conquest and theft and a complete disregard for their citizenry and indeed humanity in general are unfortunately all t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The CCP consists of 90M+ party members who represent all facets of society--larger than entire population of Germany. Include family members and it's 300M+ almost size of US. Furthermore, it's an integral part of Chinese society with overwhelming support among its citizens (>90%). The CCP is continuation of past dynasties operating under the 'Mandate of Heaven' to serve the people. Failure to do so and it will be rep…
I'm sure a lot of Chinese are not fans even if they are forced to join by practical considerations. Like most communist systems they are unable to have democratic elections because people would vote them out.
Chinese citizens elect leaders at local level who in turn elect those above them and this continues to the highest levers where only the most competent rise to the top.
Communism is a misnomer when applied to China. It is no more communist than US is a democracy. In fact in many ways China is more democratic than US whereby it's govt of 90M+ members more accurately represent interests of Chinese society.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How's you do things, if you had a blank slate?
That's actually a fairly hard question I haven't completely been able to find a way out of that doesn't lead to SSDD. On the one hand, there's a part of me that imagines a world of completely neutral sensor grids that absolutely everyone is able to tap into for reading from, no questions asked, no restrictions. Anyone can see anything, from anywhere, period. Imagine this was set up and anyone who knew how to insert s…