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[return to "Israeli startup claims Covid-19 likely originated in a lab, willing to bet on it"]
1. pengar+p3[view] [source] 2020-12-30 21:00:45
>>delbar+(OP)
They're probably receiving >$100k worth of attention by making this claim so... I'd like to see more zeroes in the wager.
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2. dash2+J8[view] [source] 2020-12-30 21:32:00
>>pengar+p3
Yeah, the problem with this startup is that the high-minded Bayesianism of their model is going to run up against the crass incentive to make exciting, media-friendly claims. Their track record doesn't seem that rigorous either, they just list a few (like 5) cases where evidence has later supported them: https://www.rootclaim.com/rootclaim_track_record
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3. meowfa+co[view] [source] 2020-12-30 23:02:19
>>dash2+J8
Their track record seems neither compelling nor skepticism-worthy, I think, often because a lot of their conclusions lined up with already widely accepted hypotheses (e.g. that MMR vaccines don't cause autism and that MH17 was shot down by DNR), and a lot of the controversial things naturally remain unknown.

The most interesting - where public opinion was against and Rootclaim was for, and it was later shown Rootclaim was far more likely to be right - seem to be the deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman [0] and that MH370 vanished due to pilot suicide [1].

I think where the rubber would meet the road is if they're ever shown to be correct about the Syrian chemical attacks [2], where they draw the opposite conclusion Bellingcat did, and of course about the COVID-19 origin.

If they do turn out to be right about those, that would grant them major credibility points, I think; though the conclusions there may never be known one way or another. If they are right about COVID-19, it would also make me view Bret Weinstein with a lot more credibility, since he's been advocating the likelihood of the lab leak hypothesis for a while.

[0] https://www.rootclaim.com/rootclaim_track_record#barry_and_h...

[1] https://www.rootclaim.com/rootclaim_track_record#MH_370

[2] https://www.rootclaim.com/rootclaim_track_record#syrian_chem...

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