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WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

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Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#71

Post by siva7 »

tootie wrote: post #61
causi wrote: post #26

I'm not skilled enough in the biomedical background to evaluate the various genetics-based articles written for or against natural-origin and lab-origin hypotheses. As a layman, however, I find the degree to which the Chinese government has stomped all over foreign-led investigations into the origin of SARS-Cov-2 to be highly, highly suspicious.

The best writeup I've seen is actually this twitter thread from the WNYC science reporter, Nsikan Akpan (himself a phd in biology). The gist being that while lab leak is still possible, it's very unlikely and it's also likely we'll never find a smoking gun for any hypothesis. https://twitter.com/MoNscience/status/1396240581651742724

Again, this writeup is more about the bioengineering hypothesis while embarak states another theory. in it‘s current state the term lab leak has almost become meaningless

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#72

Post by thick »

We should do a little experiment, since HN is so good at gathering and keeping data on us.

Gather the last year's worth of commentary around this subject and get all the people who kneejerked "lab hypothesis is a conspiratorial/xenophobic/racist theory," and ask them what do they think about the situation now and what has changed in their minds.

I'd love to know.

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#73

Post by uses »

908B64B197 wrote: post #12

Remember when the previous administration suggested looking into the Lab Leak theory and was laughed at? Remember how you would get banned from Facebook for suggesting that the lab leak theory was a possibility? Then major social networks and the medias reversed their positions. What changed in the meantime, other than the president?

> Remember when the previous administration suggested looking into the Lab Leak theory and was laughed at?

The previous administration was completely nuts and would do and say all kinds of random things. The problems with communication and trust were too many to know where to start. Besides that, the context was totally different. A president trying to "wage a trade war" on China, stir up nationalist sentiment, distract from his responsibility to respond to the pandemic, constantly regurgitating conspiracy theories and other misinformation, constantly trying to distract from scandals, etc.

> Remember how you would get banned from Facebook for suggesting that the lab leak theory was a possibility?

The amount of misinformation about COVID was and is extreme. Yeah, they moderated their platform, which is under intense congressional scrutiny, in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic. Even so, I think you're conflating the bio-weapon theory with the lab-leak theory.

> Then major social networks and the medias reversed their positions. What changed in the meantime, other than the president?

Major social networks and medias didn't "reverse their positions"...we learned more, we're still learning more. What changed in the meantime is so, so many things lmao.

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#74

Post by ransom1538 »

tehjoker wrote: post #37
causi wrote: post #26

I'm not skilled enough in the biomedical background to evaluate the various genetics-based articles written for or against natural-origin and lab-origin hypotheses. As a layman, however, I find the degree to which the Chinese government has stomped all over foreign-led investigations into the origin of SARS-Cov-2 to be highly, highly suspicious.

Not really, the Chinese government knows the western powers want to use this to create an anti-China hysteria and so want to deny them the ability to do so. The NATO alliance is trying to create a confrontation over Taiwan and a lab leak hysteria is a great way to get the population onboard with a war.

I wish we could get the country of origin for comments like these.

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#76

Post by rflrob »

causi wrote: post #26

I'm not skilled enough in the biomedical background to evaluate the various genetics-based articles written for or against natural-origin and lab-origin hypotheses. As a layman, however, I find the degree to which the Chinese government has stomped all over foreign-led investigations into the origin of SARS-Cov-2 to be highly, highly suspicious.

> I find the degree to which the Chinese government has stomped all over foreign-led investigations into the origin of SARS-Cov-2 to be highly, highly suspicious.

I don't find it suspicious at all, precisely because I don't trust the Chinese government. In my estimation of the CPC, the following probabilities are all roughly equal (and close to 1):

* P(suppress investigation | natural origin)

* P(suppress investigation | lab leak of benign research)

* P(suppress investigation | lab leak of gain of function)

From a Bayesian point of view, then, P(lab leak | suppress investigation) is going to be almost equal to P(lab leak).

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#77

Post by TooKool4This »

908B64B197 wrote: post #12

Remember when the previous administration suggested looking into the Lab Leak theory and was laughed at? Remember how you would get banned from Facebook for suggesting that the lab leak theory was a possibility? Then major social networks and the medias reversed their positions. What changed in the meantime, other than the president?

> Remember when the previous administration suggested looking into the Lab Leak theory and was laughed at?

Remember when the head of the previous administration thought injecting disinfectants or UV light was a possible solution to Covid?

The problem with trust and credibility is that once it’s lost, it’s very hard to gain back. Even if the broken clock is right twice a day, it’s still broken.

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#78

Post by tlowrimore »

ghostwriter wrote: post #45
tlowrimore wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is important to consider the context within which these suggestions were initially put forth. We had a president that claimed to have Coronavirus under control, that it was no worse than the flu and who openly and frequently cast doubt upon the only expert in the room. Perhaps had his behavior been a bit more tempered, he would have been taken more seriously.

> We had a president that claimed to have Coronavirus under control, that it was no worse than the flu Could you remind us who was that person who went to SF’s Chinatown to hug random people and was urging others to “come and visit and enjoy Chinatown” during the first critical months of unknown risk?

It was Nancy Pelosi.

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#79

Post by gjs278 »

uses wrote: post #73
908B64B197 wrote: post #12

Remember when the previous administration suggested looking into the Lab Leak theory and was laughed at? Remember how you would get banned from Facebook for suggesting that the lab leak theory was a possibility? Then major social networks and the medias reversed their positions. What changed in the meantime, other than the president?

> Remember when the previous administration suggested looking into the Lab Leak theory and was laughed at? The previous administration was completely nuts and would do and say all kinds of random things. The problems with communication and trust were too many to know where to start. Besides that, the context was totally different. A president trying to "wage a trade war" on China, stir up nationalist sentiment, distr…

you’re a piece of shit. fuck you and fuck your censorship.

Re: WHO inquiry chief 'had concerns' about lab close to first Covid cases

#80

Post by ChemSpider »

timy2shoes wrote: post #59
Phil_Latio wrote: post #50

Everyone with common sense must assume that a lab which does experiments on Corona viruses is the most likely source and not the food market nearby. It's really that simple...

Yes, the jumping of viruses from animals to humans due to keeping them in close proximity is so unlikely that it's happened hundreds of times before (e.g. SARS, MERS, Spanish flu, bubonic plague).

The bat lady herself says that these type of bats are not in or near Wuhan:

“I wondered if [the municipal health authority] got it wrong,” she says. “I had never expected this kind of thing to happen in Wuhan, in central China.” Her studies had shown that the southern, subtropical provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan have the greatest risk of coronaviruses jumping to humans from animals—particularly bats, a known reservoir. If coronaviruses were the culprit, she remembers thinking, “Could they have come from our lab?”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-wo...

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