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Slack / Private Message Drop, p.906 [SLACK_001120] · slack_pm:msg:09409

Page text: p.906 · original PDF

Date
2021-06-02 14:50
Type
chat message · slack
recipient
Kristian G. Andersen, Robert F. Garry, Andrew Rambaut
speaker
Edward C. Holmes

Recipients on this medium are inferred from channel membership, not per-message addressing.

I'm having doubts about the wisdom of our new letter: (i) it's crap - SO depressing that I spent ages cutting it down for it to be readded; (ii) it's late; (iii) there's so much hate out there that people will be reluctant to sign and I can't say I'm keen to get back in the firing line; (iv) what will it actually achieve - people have made their minds up.

In context

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  1. 2021-06-02 14:33 Robert F. Garry open
    Yeah - a good idea...
  2. 2021-06-02 14:41 Edward C. Holmes open
    Jesus Bob - that's bad. This is really not on. We can't make ourselves and our families targets. Sharri is so dumb -just wait til she finds out that I told the Chief Medical Officer and the intelligence services here that we thought itmight be a lab leak...hang on, though, how can that be a cover-up?
  3. 2021-06-02 14:43 Kristian G. Andersen open
    BECAUSE EDDIE!!!
  4. 2021-06-02 14:47 Robert F. Garry open
    In other new it looks like the MOMA might actually let me use The Persistence of Memory along with my commentary The Persistence of Ebola regarding @Andrew Rambaut et al. sequencing paper on the newest Guinean Ebola outbreak coming out in _Nature_. Other good news - the mystery of the "thing" in PoM is solved - seems to be a bat - maybe a hammerhead bat. [shared file(s): image.png, image.png]
  5. 2021-06-02 14:50 Edward C. Holmes
    I'm having doubts about the wisdom of our new letter: (i) it's crap - SO depressing that I spent ages cutting it down for it to be readded; (ii) it's late; (iii) there's so much hate out there that people will be reluctant to sign and I can't say I'm keen to get back in the firing line; (iv) what will it actually achieve - people have made their minds up.
  6. 2021-06-02 14:59 Kristian G. Andersen open
    We'll get it back in shape, I'm sure. Let's decide on next steps once we have it - I very much think it's worthwhile tohave it out there for something to point to.
  7. 2021-06-02 15:00 Kristian G. Andersen open
    I have a lot of urgent shit to deal with today, but I'll have some time tomorrow (hopefully...) to go through it - I think itcan be brought back to life and the full version history is saved.
  8. 2021-06-02 15:14 Andrew Rambaut open
    Sorry - I have been out of the loop working on B.1.617.2. But I agree Eddie - it is got quite far from what we were thinking it should be. Everyone keeps saying 'keep it tight' and then adding more stuff in. I think we should not mention manipulation - no furin site, no passaging, nothing - that is all dumb and has been dealt with. I think itshould just address how implausible it is for it ever to get to the lab to escape in the first place and how plausible the animal route is. The one thing we need to nail is the 'lab escape is plausible' shit that serious scientists are signingup to.
  9. 2021-06-02 15:32 Robert F. Garry open
    Agreed! - that's where your capture-escape definition is helpful. Capturing the next pandemic virus, then getting infected is hard [and much less likely than 1 of 14M wildlife traders getting infected]. Escape also rare, but not impossible - that is why the Lab leakers focus on that. Throw in capture-manipulate-escape (still being pushed bythe likes of eDim, Yuri etc) and its a slam dun it didn't happen. [shared file(s): What Did Fauci Tell Trump About Wuhan_ - WSJ.pdf]

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