Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
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Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#2And people wonder why non-Americans sometimes hate the American political system..
This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay.
So Pompeo puts out something akin to gasoline on the fire of china-US relations as a "parting gift" to the Biden administration.
Folks, don't get sucked in. Threat analysis says this is not helpful, or even very informed.
Were the CCP unhelpful? Sure! Is this PR warfare helpful? Shit no!
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#3And people wonder why non-Americans sometimes hate the American political system.. This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay. So Pompeo puts out something akin to gasoline on the fire of china-US relations as a "parting gift" to the Biden administration. Folks, don't get sucked in. Threat analysis says this is not helpful, or even very informed. Were the CCP unhelpful? Sure! Is this PR warfare helpful? Shit no!
One of the first articles on covid I saw was from the Chicago School of Economics crowing about how covid was going to set China back into the 1970's. It was dismaying because it foretold how certain political factions in the US were going to respond to the threat.
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#4Remapping reality onto politics may be fun and emotionally satisfying, but it is also extremely dangerous. Scientific investigation shows not only that SARS-CoV2 came from bats, but that we should expect more viral outbreaks as human contact with wild animal populations continues to increase. The Chinese Communist Party could continue to run wild with their worst behavior and still never come close to the threat that nature itself holds over us.
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#5Remapping reality onto politics may be fun and emotionally satisfying, but it is also extremely dangerous. Scientific investigation shows not only that SARS-CoV2 came from bats, but that we should expect more viral outbreaks as human contact with wild animal populations continues to increase. The Chinese Communist Party could continue to run wild with their worst behavior and still never come close to the threat that…
The linked statement doesn't deny that the virus came from bats, it just suggests that scientists may have been working with bats, and then one of the studied viruses escaped:
"Scientists in China have researched animal-derived coronaviruses under conditions that increased the risk for accidental and potentially unwitting exposure."
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#6And people wonder why non-Americans sometimes hate the American political system.. This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay. So Pompeo puts out something akin to gasoline on the fire of china-US relations as a "parting gift" to the Biden administration. Folks, don't get sucked in. Threat analysis says this is not helpful, or even very informed. Were the CCP unhelpful? Sure! Is this PR warfare helpful? Shit no!
There are two possibilities: that Pompey/Trump want to sabotage Biden as you suspect; or that they don’t want this intel suppressed. Regardless, the timing of the release is unlikely to be a coincidence. Sadly, the deep cleavages in US politics are going to make most people view this through partisan eyes.
I am not inclined to dismiss this entirely though:
1) There were concerns about Gain of Function research long before Covid-19. I recall it was discussed on HN even (but can’t find the exact link)
2) There have been outbreaks of SARS linked to labs.
3) China has been secretive and uncooperative with investigations and has turned its wrath against an erstwhile partner (Australia) after that country’s government called for an investigation into the origin of the virus (maybe a coincidence as well though).
I am not inclined to unquestioningly believe the same government that lied/erred terribly on WMDs in Iraq, but I also don’t think we can unquestioningly dismiss the idea that the virus escaped from a lab that was doing experiments that would be expected to produce a virus of this sort, rather than a random mutation that just happened to be in a market in the same city.
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#7Remapping reality onto politics may be fun and emotionally satisfying, but it is also extremely dangerous. Scientific investigation shows not only that SARS-CoV2 came from bats, but that we should expect more viral outbreaks as human contact with wild animal populations continues to increase. The Chinese Communist Party could continue to run wild with their worst behavior and still never come close to the threat that…
I agree with your desire to draw conclusions only on an evidentiary basis, but technically there is a logical flaw in your way of thinking:
If I isolate a virus from a bat in a laboratory, and then that virus escapes my laboratory (could be due to poor disposal of specimens, inadequate disinfection procedures for employees, etc -- not necessarily intentional), it would be both true that the virus came from bats and that the virus came from my laboratory.
I'm not saying that the virus came from the Wuhan lab. I'm just saying that "it clearly came from bats" does not preclude the possibility that the virus was stored in (or spread from) a particular laboratory.
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#8Roll a hyper-dimensional die representing all possible human-bat interaction locations over time.
How many of those are a mile away from locations where scientists actively collect bat viruses?
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#9Roll a hyper-dimensional die representing all possible human-bat interaction locations over time. How many of those are a mile away from locations where scientists actively collect bat viruses?
> Wuhan is a big city so probably most of them!!
Well, that's the argument I've heard on HN for the last year, and the only one sanctioned to avoid super-downvotes.
Re: Fact Sheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
#10And people wonder why non-Americans sometimes hate the American political system.. This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay. So Pompeo puts out something akin to gasoline on the fire of china-US relations as a "parting gift" to the Biden administration. Folks, don't get sucked in. Threat analysis says this is not helpful, or even very informed. Were the CCP unhelpful? Sure! Is this PR warfare helpful? Shit no!
A less conspiratorial take on the timing is that it's due to this:
https://time.com/5929647/who-china-pandemic-origins-covid19-...