I'm a post doc virology researcher whose gain of function research is, ironically, delayed by covid. I think you're spot on with the description of the Science

I'm a post doc virology researcher whose gain of function research is, ironically, delayed by covid. I think you're spot on with the description of the Science Game. It's depressing, and I'm considering leaving academia because I can't stand the perverse incentive structures. I think you're misguided with respect to why gain of function research is done. The idea that we're doing gain of function in order to generate more stuff to study is sort of right, but missing the point. It's not that we've run out of natural stuff to study. We have plenty of natural viruses to study. It's instead that gain of function is a great way to practically test some hypotheses. Imagine you have a theory that property X of a virus enables it to replicate in humans. You can remove property X from an existing virus, but it's even more convincing if you can predict what adding property X to a different virus will do. Also I would argue that "gain of function research" is too broad a term to be useful for making policy. It's like discussing whether "nuclear physics" is dangerous. Building nuclear weapons is dangerous, making a particle accelerator isn't.