'Unique fingerprints' in Covid-19 could only have arisen from a laboratory(dailymail.co.uk)
dailymail.co.uk
'Unique fingerprints' in Covid-19 could only have arisen from a laboratory
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9629563/Chinese-scientists-created-COVID-19-lab-tried-cover-tracks-new-study-claims.html
24 comments
I'm not qualified to assess one of those claims.
The claim that lab-grown would necessarily have certain "fingerprints" was nonsense. We can create viruses just like the ones in nature. When those claims started coming out, I knew folks were lying. That made it much harder to trust anything else they said.
Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, so in your words, I left this set to undef.
My concern throughout this whole thing was how often folks in positions of power lied. My conclusion was that government officials lying should be a criminal offense, and academics doing so, a civil one.
We need honest information.
The claim that lab-grown would necessarily have certain "fingerprints" was nonsense. We can create viruses just like the ones in nature. When those claims started coming out, I knew folks were lying. That made it much harder to trust anything else they said.
Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, so in your words, I left this set to undef.
My concern throughout this whole thing was how often folks in positions of power lied. My conclusion was that government officials lying should be a criminal offense, and academics doing so, a civil one.
We need honest information.
> We can create viruses just like the ones in nature.
This is simply not true. We have a limited set of tools that can be used to manipulate a gene sequence, a limited set of sites and sequences that these tools will bind to, and a limited set of changes that we know can be used to some resulting effect that we wish to accomplish.
I think what we really need here are people who have no idea what they are talking about to maybe STFU. Listen a bit more and spend less time demonstrating how much you do not know.
> My conclusion was that government officials lying should be a criminal offense, and academics doing so, a civil one.
And what should be the punishment for ill-informed and internet commenters who attempt to deceive through either malice or ignorance? What penalty should we apply to your crimes against Truth?
This is simply not true. We have a limited set of tools that can be used to manipulate a gene sequence, a limited set of sites and sequences that these tools will bind to, and a limited set of changes that we know can be used to some resulting effect that we wish to accomplish.
I think what we really need here are people who have no idea what they are talking about to maybe STFU. Listen a bit more and spend less time demonstrating how much you do not know.
> My conclusion was that government officials lying should be a criminal offense, and academics doing so, a civil one.
And what should be the punishment for ill-informed and internet commenters who attempt to deceive through either malice or ignorance? What penalty should we apply to your crimes against Truth?
You can selectively breed viruses for infectivity, lethality. Sam Harris had a podcast about it recently, Engineering the Apocalypse. Maybe that’s what the OP meant? Your response seems so harsh comparison in comparison by the way.
I studied physical virology and there’s so much I don’t know and continue to learn, but you sound really confident, maybe you could add links that add some credibility to your strong position. I wouldn’t mind reading them.
I studied physical virology and there’s so much I don’t know and continue to learn, but you sound really confident, maybe you could add links that add some credibility to your strong position. I wouldn’t mind reading them.
> We have a limited set of tools that can be used to manipulate a gene sequence
You can go on the web and buy whatever DNA or RNA sequence you want out of the comfort of your bedroom. The cost is down to around 10 cents per base pair, so if you want to order COVID19 RNA, you're looking at around $3k.
Over the past two decades, some genomics work has moved out of million-dollar labs to at-home hobby projects for people with Google SWE salaries (indeed, the costs are less of a barrier than the required advanced knowledge; molecular biology isn't easy). You even have undergrad genetic engineering competitions like iGEM.
Moore's Law is alive and kicking for gene synthesis. It's also alive and well for genetic sequencing; the cost of sequencing the human genome has fallen by a factor of a million in the past two decades.
> And what should be the punishment for ill-informed and internet commenters who attempt to deceive through either malice or ignorance? What penalty should we apply to your crimes against Truth?
I think most people who deceived about COVID19 did so from ill-informed attempts at benevolence. But to answer your question: There's a difference between a private citizen, and someone employed with my taxes.
* I strongly feel that I would like to be able to expect that my government will not lie to me, at least not willfully.
* I have mixed feelings about regulating private free speech.
You can go on the web and buy whatever DNA or RNA sequence you want out of the comfort of your bedroom. The cost is down to around 10 cents per base pair, so if you want to order COVID19 RNA, you're looking at around $3k.
Over the past two decades, some genomics work has moved out of million-dollar labs to at-home hobby projects for people with Google SWE salaries (indeed, the costs are less of a barrier than the required advanced knowledge; molecular biology isn't easy). You even have undergrad genetic engineering competitions like iGEM.
Moore's Law is alive and kicking for gene synthesis. It's also alive and well for genetic sequencing; the cost of sequencing the human genome has fallen by a factor of a million in the past two decades.
> And what should be the punishment for ill-informed and internet commenters who attempt to deceive through either malice or ignorance? What penalty should we apply to your crimes against Truth?
I think most people who deceived about COVID19 did so from ill-informed attempts at benevolence. But to answer your question: There's a difference between a private citizen, and someone employed with my taxes.
* I strongly feel that I would like to be able to expect that my government will not lie to me, at least not willfully.
* I have mixed feelings about regulating private free speech.
I wonder if the DM folks realize that even if the study is high quality and reliable, the fact that DM leaked it first just ads confusion to the whole issue (because of how low-quality the DM is…)
Disagree, honestly, DailyMail regularly has the best compilations of data and imagery for geopolitical fuckery stories.
Can anybody back up the claim that having four positively charged Amino acids near an active site of a protein is rare?
Never mind, this article is pretty unreliable..
Never mind, this article is pretty unreliable..
it is generally true that proteins won't have many charged amino acids (of the same charge) clustered in an area (it's not uncommon to have clusters of oppositely charged amino acids). But none of this could be used as 'fingerprint proof'.
The daily mail is a few steps below Fox news in terms of accuracy and unbias reporting. They're quite literally the paper that supported Hitler. They're not a source of anything. Please don't post them here.
(Edit:)
Here is Full facts review of the claims (which apparently don't appear in the paper's peer review version):
https://fullfact.org/health/richard-dearlove-coronavirus-cla...
(Edit:)
Here is Full facts review of the claims (which apparently don't appear in the paper's peer review version):
https://fullfact.org/health/richard-dearlove-coronavirus-cla...
First off, I agree with your overall assessment.
> They're quite literally the paper that supported Hitler.
Okay. I get it. Hitler was bad. His ideas were bad. His methods were bad. We can talk about how bad Hitler was all day.
But a lot of companies _back then_ had ties to the Nazi party. Things change, companies lay off and hire on, people learn. Let's try to eliminate this trend of disregarding anything someone says due to something that happened almost 100 years ago.
IBM supported the Nazi party. They're now a leader in quantum research.
Volkswagen is one of the largest producers in Germany and was literally created by them. They now actively support their LGBT members at work.
BMW, same thing.
Bayer manufactured a bunch of the chemicals used in the holocaust. Now they are a large producer of life-saving medication.
There are many reasons not to like Daily Mail. Let's not reduce ourselves to obsolete association just to cop-out of an otherwise valid point.
> They're quite literally the paper that supported Hitler.
Okay. I get it. Hitler was bad. His ideas were bad. His methods were bad. We can talk about how bad Hitler was all day.
But a lot of companies _back then_ had ties to the Nazi party. Things change, companies lay off and hire on, people learn. Let's try to eliminate this trend of disregarding anything someone says due to something that happened almost 100 years ago.
IBM supported the Nazi party. They're now a leader in quantum research.
Volkswagen is one of the largest producers in Germany and was literally created by them. They now actively support their LGBT members at work.
BMW, same thing.
Bayer manufactured a bunch of the chemicals used in the holocaust. Now they are a large producer of life-saving medication.
There are many reasons not to like Daily Mail. Let's not reduce ourselves to obsolete association just to cop-out of an otherwise valid point.
Bayer made lifesaving medicine back then too. Bayer's crime was of corporate amorality and I see no evidence that they have changed at all in that regard. As one of the world's largest chemical manufacturers I would be shocked if they do not still supply oppressive regimes - maybe even are inching into being one themselves, given their acquisition of Monsanto.
> I would be shocked if they do not still supply oppressive regimes
This is speculation - you have no sources to back this up.
This is speculation - you have no sources to back this up.
Given the well-documented tendency of large corporations - and this corporation in particular - to not give two shits about ethics, I'm not entirely sure which direction the burden of proof lies.
However they are certainly supplying China, a regime widely acknowledged to be committing genocide. Whether their chemicals are directly used for genocidal purposes seems academic? They do not care either way.
However they are certainly supplying China, a regime widely acknowledged to be committing genocide. Whether their chemicals are directly used for genocidal purposes seems academic? They do not care either way.
It is not just a case of "back then". The Daily Mail spreads misinformation and hate propaganda right now. It is by any definition a low-quality source.
The reason I usually include "the paper that supported Hitler" is that I don't think the daily mail have changed. They sell the exact same racist, xenophobic BS they did back then today.
Its like if IBM refused to make anything except for holocaust management tech...
Maybe its unhelpful? It just amazes me anyone will touch the DM with a barge pole...
Its like if IBM refused to make anything except for holocaust management tech...
Maybe its unhelpful? It just amazes me anyone will touch the DM with a barge pole...
> They sell the exact same racist, xenophobic BS they did back then today.
Can you cite these claims?
Can you cite these claims?
In the UK it is widely known to be utter trash.
Here's a song about it written in 2010: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI
Song's punchline: "It's absolutely true because I read about it in the daily mail /s"
Here's a song about it written in 2010: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI
Song's punchline: "It's absolutely true because I read about it in the daily mail /s"
https://youtu.be/r9dqNTTdYKY
"Fuck the Daily Mail"
Also, the Metro, the free UK tabloid found on buses etc is also produced by the Mail Group, so I only use it to wrap my compost in for the street side bin.
"Fuck the Daily Mail"
Also, the Metro, the free UK tabloid found on buses etc is also produced by the Mail Group, so I only use it to wrap my compost in for the street side bin.
I'm supposed to trust one of the masses that doesn't understand that bias and biased are two different words?
I think you're confusing your tenses?
But don't believe me, click the link I provided before your comment. It's all there in black and white. Or just Google "the paper that supported Hitler".
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+paper+that+supported+...
But don't believe me, click the link I provided before your comment. It's all there in black and white. Or just Google "the paper that supported Hitler".
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+paper+that+supported+...
I'm not qualified to assess either of these claims. I am leaving the variable set to undef for the time being until a scientific consensus emerges over months or years that isn't tied to some hot-button nationalistic agenda.