This Coronavirus, at least, has an extremely low fatality rate. But not to worry!
State-funded research into 50% fatality gain-of-function viruses is, well, ongoing. Let’s pray they never leak from a tax-funded lab somewhere in, say, China… Hypothetically speaking.
Put this down as reason #483926 we need the State: Who else would threaten mankind with extinction?!
When even Vox thinks wiping out the world should perhaps be rethought…
The Newsweek report revealed an alarming tidbit: The Wuhan lab at the center of the controversy had for years been engaged in gain-of-function research. What exactly is it? It’s a line of research where scientists take viruses and study how they might be modified to become deadlier or more transmissible. Why would they do this? Scientists who engage in such research say it helps them figure out which viruses threaten people so they can design countermeasures.
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The increased attention to gain-of-function research is a good thing. This kind of highly controversial research — banned under the Obama administration after safety incidents demonstrated that lab containment is rarely airtight — began again under the Trump administration, and many scientists and public health researchers think it’s a really bad idea. Our brush with the horrors of a pandemic might force us to reconsider the warnings those experts have been sounding for years…