zlacker

For expert opinion on this subject listen to actual virologists. They do a podcast about 2-3 times a week.

https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/

>>daly+(OP)
So I should listen to all podcasts?

>>daly+(OP)
Their main argument in the podcast is that the scientist in the lab says that they were not working on this virus and "even with the central control of china there is no way they could keep that secret". That argument is not going to hold a lot of water with people

>>daly+(OP)
They don't cite any evidence to refute a lab accident, and the 'clubby' atmosphere raises suspicion that they dismiss the possibility on the grounds that 'we're all professionals, free to say what we want, free from government coercion, etc', but perhaps that does not reflect reality.

>>ciupic+za
Podcasts run on a given domain run by domain experts are certainly a good step above, epistemologically speaking, than a lot of news source on said domain. Obviously you can't be 100% sure any statement about the physical world is true, so you know, believe what you want.

>>jackne+om
There's no evidence to refute, though, besides the fact that the lab exists. It's pure speculation either way.

>>daly+(OP)
Something that has been exposed a lot during this pandemic: expert opinions

>>daly+(OP)
Oh yeah, how reliable the experts were all along during this pandemic. We should be so glad we had them from day 1.

>>daly+(OP)
Could you summarize their arguments rather than drop a content bomb and run away? Its really lazy and unproductive.

>>TearsI+jm
> That argument is not going to hold a lot of water with people

Yeah, because people prefer to hold their pet conspiracy theories.

>>TearsI+jm
> "even with the central control of china there is no way they could keep that secret"

Funny, we have thousands of people in certain countries in three letters organizations who can keep secrets just fine.

>>daly+(OP)
Ok then. Let's watch TWiV 615, where they interview Peter Daszak, the virologist which headed the recent WHO origin seeking mission in China.

Listen to him talk about how easy is to modify coronaviruses in labs and how they are actually doing this, mixing and matching viruses at 29:50:

> Well, coronaviruses are pretty good... you can manipulate them in the lab pretty easily. Spike protein drives a lot what happens in a coronavirus. Zoonotic risk. So you can get the sequence, you can bulid a protein, and we work with Ralph Baric at UNC to do this, insert into the backbone of another virus, and do some work in the lab, so you can get more predictive, when you find a sequence.

https://youtu.be/IdYDL_RK--w