3 ms·
Yes, virus research does indeed come with trade offs that we have to balance. But it’s not like not researching these things don’t come with trade offs too; aft
by ashtonkem 5y ago
Yes, virus research does indeed come with trade offs that we have to balance. But it’s not like not researching these things don’t come with trade offs too; after all the worst viral outbreak in human history probably started in Kansas on a farm, not in a lab.
This is an argument for good regulation of safety protocols, not an outright ban.
- disambiguation 5y agoi am not an expert, so correct me if i'm wrong.. but not all virus research is "gain of function" right? what is the advantage of "gain of function" specifically, aside from biowarfare? are we trying to anticipate nature? are there any successful examples?
- ashtonkem 5y agoI’m a bit out over my skis here, but given that we’ve just seen an active pandemic mutate to become more infectious, it does make some sense to try and anticipate what else might happen next. This kind of research has obvious biowarfare implications, so it should obviously be carefully monitored and regulated internationally. As far as successful examples, I’m not really sure. But I’m not convinced that I’d take a lack of examples as proof of unsuitability; we’re clearly in a new era of viral and immunology research. Given that researchers can literally sequence proteins for mRNA vaccine use, a ludicrous concept even a decade ago to most of us, I suspect that attempting to anticipate future mutations via gain of function research might yield more medicinal rewards than it would have in decades past.