4 ms·

A friend of mine who worked for defense creating viruses is convinced it's man made because of the way the virus is structured. Whether it's true or not. It's

by toshk 7y ago

A friend of mine who worked for defense creating viruses is convinced it's man made because of the way the virus is structured. Whether it's true or not. It's an interesting case, and I wonder why no one is writing about this possibilty in the media. Those ideas are quickly dismissed as crazy conspiracy theory. Where every big government is actively working on creating viruses for both defense and offense. Especially because in Wuhan there is one of these labs. Around the world outbreaks out of viruses out of these labs happen regularly. Even on purpose sometimes, but most of the time accidently.

bantunes 7y ago
> Around the world outbreaks out of viruses out of these labs happen regularly. Even on purpose sometimes, but most of the time accidently. Any sources on that?
ImaCake 7y ago
Virologists seem pretty happy to say that the virus is not man made. [0] It is amazing to me the crazy theories circulating about this virus. Does anyone remember similar stories from Zika or Ebola 2015 outbreaks? 0. http://virological.org/t/tackling-rumors-of-a-suspicious-origin-of-ncov2019/384 http://virological.org/t/tackling-rumors-of-a-suspicious-ori...
- dgellow 7y ago
  > Does anyone remember similar stories from Zika or Ebola 2015 outbreaks? Yes, lot of similar ones.
Mvandenbergh 7y ago
I don't know if it's really worth engaging with this nonsense. It looks just like other coronaviruses, there is nothing about it that looks man-made. If it was man-made, don't you think the Chinese government would have locked things down more aggressively as soon as they realised it was out? After all, in this scenario they would know exactly how dangerous it is. >Where every big government is actively working on creating viruses for both defense and offense. How many of those have been respiratory viruses with long incubation times, low fatality rates in military age people, and no vaccines or other treatments? This is basically the worst candidate for a bio-weapon ever! The ideal bio-weapon: -Is something you can protect your own troops and people against -Can be treated but only with high expenditure of resources -Incapacitates the people it infects as soon as possible -Has no or moderate spread person-person Otherwise you are just releasing a pathogen that will come back and infect you as well. This is why Anthrax was such a popular bio weapon, person-person infection is extremely rare and it forms spores so can be spread over an area where it will linger but has little chance of causing an out-of-control epidemic. Smallpox was weaponised by the Soviet Union and that is very contagious but can be vaccinated against.
- mr_isomies 7y ago
  Not buying into this sort of conspiracy theory myself, but since I'm reading some Cixin Liu I'll indulge in some creative thinking. - This is pure fiction: Seeing this as an offensive weapon, if it were indeed man-made, is a mistake imo. Right now the market is cratering, China is pretty much in economic lock down (which would have been impossible to enact otherwise), while being self sustained. Population of elders (i.e. non-working population) are being purged. Aren't we in the middle of an economic war between USA and China? China and the world, even? Who is gaining from this situation right now? Or rather, who is suffering less, from a medium/long perspective? If it does get to the States, with no healthcare safety net in place, the country will go through a lot of pain, economic and other. I think that by the end of whatever _that_ is, China comes out on top from a game theory perspective. It's a bit like the Schwabb vs Ameritrade commission cutting playbook: if we both suffer but you suffer more, I still win in the end. - Again, pure fiction. I do not subscribe to any of those views. I am not that cynical! Just a fun writing exercise.
  - Mvandenbergh 7y ago
    >I think that by the end of whatever _that_ is, China comes out on top from a game theory perspective. The trade war has already been causing manufacturers to consider the wisdom of their supply chain strategies. China is currently an export driven economy trying to transition to a domestic consumption led economy but hasn't done so yet. Anything that leads manufacturers to put more of their capacity near their large markets in Europe and the US is very bad strategically for China right now. This is a disaster for China if it causes a manufacturing shift out of China before they have made a consumer transition.
jstewartmobile 7y ago
New York Post has got you covered! https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coro... PS> knew I'd have to scroll to the bottom to get some sense out of this place!

by toshk 7y ago

bantunes 7y ago

> Around the world outbreaks out of viruses out of these labs happen regularly. Even on purpose sometimes, but most of the time accidently. Any sources on that?

ImaCake 7y ago

Virologists seem pretty happy to say that the virus is not man made. [0] It is amazing to me the crazy theories circulating about this virus. Does anyone remember similar stories from Zika or Ebola 2015 outbreaks? 0. http://virological.org/t/tackling-rumors-of-a-suspicious-origin-of-ncov2019/384 http://virological.org/t/tackling-rumors-of-a-suspicious-ori...

dgellow 7y ago
> Does anyone remember similar stories from Zika or Ebola 2015 outbreaks? Yes, lot of similar ones.

Mvandenbergh 7y ago

I don't know if it's really worth engaging with this nonsense. It looks just like other coronaviruses, there is nothing about it that looks man-made. If it was man-made, don't you think the Chinese government would have locked things down more aggressively as soon as they realised it was out? After all, in this scenario they would know exactly how dangerous it is. >Where every big government is actively working on creating viruses for both defense and offense. How many of those have been respiratory viruses with long incubation times, low fatality rates in military age people, and no vaccines or other treatments? This is basically the worst candidate for a bio-weapon ever! The ideal bio-weapon: -Is something you can protect your own troops and people against -Can be treated but only with high expenditure of resources -Incapacitates the people it infects as soon as possible -Has no or moderate spread person-person Otherwise you are just releasing a pathogen that will come back and infect you as well. This is why Anthrax was such a popular bio weapon, person-person infection is extremely rare and it forms spores so can be spread over an area where it will linger but has little chance of causing an out-of-control epidemic. Smallpox was weaponised by the Soviet Union and that is very contagious but can be vaccinated against.

mr_isomies 7y ago
Not buying into this sort of conspiracy theory myself, but since I'm reading some Cixin Liu I'll indulge in some creative thinking. - This is pure fiction: Seeing this as an offensive weapon, if it were indeed man-made, is a mistake imo. Right now the market is cratering, China is pretty much in economic lock down (which would have been impossible to enact otherwise), while being self sustained. Population of elders (i.e. non-working population) are being purged. Aren't we in the middle of an economic war between USA and China? China and the world, even? Who is gaining from this situation right now? Or rather, who is suffering less, from a medium/long perspective? If it does get to the States, with no healthcare safety net in place, the country will go through a lot of pain, economic and other. I think that by the end of whatever _that_ is, China comes out on top from a game theory perspective. It's a bit like the Schwabb vs Ameritrade commission cutting playbook: if we both suffer but you suffer more, I still win in the end. - Again, pure fiction. I do not subscribe to any of those views. I am not that cynical! Just a fun writing exercise.
- Mvandenbergh 7y ago
  >I think that by the end of whatever _that_ is, China comes out on top from a game theory perspective. The trade war has already been causing manufacturers to consider the wisdom of their supply chain strategies. China is currently an export driven economy trying to transition to a domestic consumption led economy but hasn't done so yet. Anything that leads manufacturers to put more of their capacity near their large markets in Europe and the US is very bad strategically for China right now. This is a disaster for China if it causes a manufacturing shift out of China before they have made a consumer transition.

jstewartmobile 7y ago

New York Post has got you covered! https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coro... PS> knew I'd have to scroll to the bottom to get some sense out of this place!