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This is an unreasonable demand. By the nature of the situation, we will likely never get the data needed to put together such a specific hypothesis for how the
by andrewflnr 5y ago
This is an unreasonable demand. By the nature of the situation, we will likely never get the data needed to put together such a specific hypothesis for how the virus escaped. Besides the political situation, containment failures are most likely a result of people not following the official written procedures in unpredictable ways that are themselves never written down. None of this makes the underlying idea less likely, so not being able to satisfy this piece's standard is a red herring, not evidence.
Another perspective: try applying the same standard to the zoonotic hypothesis, and (last I heard anyway) you will find the same void of specific data. This is again of no use for discriminating between our hypotheses.
- masswerk 5y agoBy the same standards, you would have to include the commonly dismissed military sports festival hypothesis: geographical and temporal vicinity, some symptoms of cold — you find as much in this as in the lab leak theory. There is no sense in picking a favorite hypothesis, besides maybe politics. As long as there is no evidence to the contrary, we'll have to treat it as a case of force majeure. Even, if it may offend our (quite illusionary) sense of total control over nature.
- loopz 5y agoActs of God is an ancient concept. The rest is up to diplomacy and level-headed introspection.