D&D and the rising pandemic

[CleverNickName]

Sure, but possible in this case isn't super long odds, either. It's significant enough that the idea needs to be investigated fully.

Again, "significant possiblility" requires significant evidence. While I agree an investigation is warranted, right now we have little more than coincidence.

 

[Ryujin]

And in most cases we don't have China lying about their covid numbers(well, yes we do), have a Covid research facility at ground zero, have China lying about researches going to study covid viruses in bats not long before the pandemic started, find pictures of said scientists there not long before the pandemic started with said scientists not wearing protective masks, and then have some of those scientists hospitalized in November of 2019 for an illness.

We can't just accept the default and ignore the very real possibility that it came from the research facility.

Have you been following China, like, at all? They lie about everything, to improve their international profile. They've been doing it for longer than I've been alive. Floods are never as deadly as you might think. Uprisings are never put down with an iron fist. And diseases are never as virulent, nor deadly as you expect.

Ignore? No, but jumping to the opposite conclusion isn't a rational position either. A virus, bacteria, fungus is presumed to be of natural origin, until it is known not to be. No, inquiry doesn't stop there, but huge leaps in logic aren't a responsible path.

 

[Maxperson]

Have you been following China, like, at all? They lie about everything, to improve their international profile. They've been doing it for longer than I've been alive. Floods are never as deadly as you might think. Uprisings are never put down with an iron fist. And diseases are never as virulent, nor deadly as you expect.

Heh. Why do you think I said, (well, yes we do) in response to them lying about illness numbers.

Ignore? No, but jumping to the opposite conclusion isn't a rational position either. A virus, bacteria, fungus is presumed to be of natural origin, until it is known not to be. No, inquiry doesn't stop there, but huge leaps in logic aren't a responsible path.

I agree, which is why I said Stewart went too far. This instance is not like all of the others for the reasons I laid out above. In this unique case we can't presume one way or the other.

 

[Eltab]

Wow. No wonder the US and Western response to this epidemic has been so messed up: "If I don't like the conclusions drawn from the facts you present, you must be Wrong!". As if any one person can set Truth or Falsehood.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just to be 100% clear, based on what is known from news releases and reports from the scientific community:

1) it is possible (but not probable) that C19‘s initial “outbreak” is due to an accidental exposure associated with the Wuhan laboratory. Accidents DO happen, and that lab has had research personnel sickened by unintended exposure to other viruses they were working with.

2) it is possible (but highly improbable) thar C19 as it was initially introduced was a manipulated/weaponized virus. Multiple researchers have looked at C19, and declared it did not look like an unnatural coronavirus.

 

[Ryujin]

Heh. Why do you think I said, (well, yes we do) in response to them lying about illness numbers.

I agree, which is why I said Stewart went too far. This instance is not like all of the others for the reasons I laid out above. In this unique case we can't presume one way or the other.

I disagree with your conclusions. There is, in fact, a default position. It's that an organism is naturally occurring, until there is conclusive proof to the contrary, as I stated previously.

 

[Maxperson]

I disagree with your conclusions. There is, in fact, a default position. It's that an organism is naturally occurring, until there is conclusive proof to the contrary, as I stated previously.

Sure, there can be a default, but if the default ignores unique circumstances, then it shouldn't be the default. Defaulting to natural with the reasonable doubt caused by the research facility and all the facts surrounding it, is a mistake. If your default can cause you to miss or ignore the truth, it's wrong.

 

[Zardnaar]

The counter point is if you were going to weaponize a virus Covids a weak candidate.

Generally they get an existing whatever and try modify it to make it more resilient eg anthrax.

So I lean heavily into not man made or tampered with. There's just better (worse) things to weaponize.

 

[Maxperson]

The counter point is if you were going to weaponize a virus Covids a weak candidate.

Generally they get an existing whatever and try modify it to make it more resilient eg anthrax.\

Weaponizing a virus is pretty dumb and I think China is aware of that. Everyone knows that viruses mutate like mad, so even if you had the vaccine for what you created, it would eventually mutate and could easily wipe you as well.

So I lean heavily into not man made or tampered with. There's just better (worse) things to weaponize.

You don't need to be weaponizing a virus in order to tamper with it. I can easily envision a situation where they were trying to change it to make it harmless and had an accident.

 

[Zardnaar]

Weaponizing a virus is pretty dumb and I think China is aware of that. Everyone knows that viruses mutate like mad, so even if you had the vaccine for what you created, it would eventually mutate and could easily wipe you as well.

You don't need to be weaponizing a virus in order to tamper with it. I can easily envision a situation where they were trying to change it to make it harmless and had an accident.

Accident maybe probably not a bioweapon or deliberate.