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Slack / Private Message Drop, pp.490-491 [SLACK_000704] · slack_pm:msg:05115

Page text: p.490, p.491 · original PDF

Date
2021-02-06 08:36
Type
chat message · slack
recipient
Kristian G. Andersen, Robert F. Garry, Edward C. Holmes
speaker
Andrew Rambaut

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But that is not the hypothesis they are proposing.

In context

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  1. 2021-02-06 08:00 Robert F. Garry open
    Yes indeed that---is--- it! It's #2 aka Relman - and the pure essence of a conspiracy theory - they have the progenitor and are keeping it a secret because they don't want the world tp know they f'ed up and released it or they are hiding their super secret bioweapons program.
  2. 2021-02-06 08:26 Kristian G. Andersen open
    No point in spending time explaining it's _not_ a lab escape - just keep reiterating the data supporting it's all natural evolution. Then combine that with three main things (1) lab escape proponents have not put forward a testable hypothesis, (2) the lab hypothesis comes down to a single 'fact' - this happen in Wuhan (that really is all there is toit), and (3) - and while I hate this part, it's effective - they're amateurs. It's not a nice look to be the person calling other scientists idiots, but they are - so I have no issue hammering on #3 these days.
  3. 2021-02-06 08:29 Kristian G. Andersen open
    The only viable version of the "lab escape" hypothesis that's left, is the one we mention in PO1 - that somebody had the virus at the WIV and popped it into tissue culture. But as we say, that would look identical to natural emergence -no point for scientists trying to figure out if that could have happened, since it's not a scientific question - it lies with intelligence.
  4. 2021-02-06 08:35 Andrew Rambaut open
    Exactly - that was my point 3.
  5. 2021-02-06 08:36 Andrew Rambaut
    But that is not the hypothesis they are proposing.
  6. 2021-02-06 08:42 Andrew Rambaut open
    But in the end you are never actually trying to convince these people, just make their arguments seem daft.
  7. 2021-02-06 08:42 Kristian G. Andersen open
    Do they have an actual hypothesis?
  8. 2021-02-06 08:43 Kristian G. Andersen open
    "just make their arguments seem daft" Excatly
  9. 2021-02-06 08:43 Kristian G. Andersen open
    And when you break it down - all they have is the fact that this was detected in Wuhan. That's literally it.

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