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How am I supposed to make sense of the conflicts-of-interest here? Obviously, this sort of scientific research has merit. Obviously, it isn't 100% free of risk.
by quadrangle 6y ago
How am I supposed to make sense of the conflicts-of-interest here? Obviously, this sort of scientific research has merit. Obviously, it isn't 100% free of risk. I haven't heard any claims of certainty around the origin of the current virus. How do we figure out the line between acknowledging that a hypothesis has inadequate evidence versus asserting it to be wrong because we don't like the ramifications or we don't like the overconfidence of people asserting too-quickly that it is true?
- eli_gottlieb 6y agoUsually, when you're doing good science and letting the evidence speak for itself, you don't terminate anyone's grants in the middle of the study without notice.
- hirundo 6y agoWeigh the importance of the research against the risk of the research process itself causing tens of thousands of deaths, and the confidence that the researchers have sufficiently protected against that risk. Anyone who has that kind of confidence in the Wuhan laboratory researchers is operating from a different set of facts than I am.
- gumby 6y ago> Anyone who has that kind of confidence in the Wuhan laboratory researchers is operating from a different set of facts than I am. What set of facts do you have access to? I haven’t any reason to believe that lab is particularly bad, so would be glad to learn something additional.
- daver00 6y agoState Department cables warned of safety issues at Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/14/state-department-cables-warned-safety-issues-wuhan-lab-studying-bat-coronaviruses/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/14/state-dep...
- gumby 6y agoThanks, that’s useful. The WaPo should have done a lot better, specifically by asking the Galveston people what they thought: had anything gotten better in the last two years? Or worse? The cable said they were asking for assistance and in two yearsthey might well have received it — or not.