"Ok, we've proven that these reckless virologists killed tens of millions by negligently releasing an extremely dangerous virus, causing a giant global crisis. Who cares?"
Imagine it was just discovered that burning coal caused millions of deaths via air pollution. This would and should be big news! We would be able to do something about it, stop future deaths by finding alternative energy sources. And if it was known that key 'coal science researchers' had hidden this information for the benefits of their prestige and funding, we could do something about them too.
Even that understates the issue because coal is really useful, it sustains technological civilization. GoF research provides at best modest gains to research. It would be like discovering that ultra-high altitude balloons killed millions of people. Obviously you just ban the balloons.
I recall Fauci's interpretation of gain-of-function research was extremely narrow, Ron Paul had a spat with him about it. We had that Boston lab doing something very similar to gain-of-function research that meets my common-sense definition (since they were splicing two COVID viruses together) but probably not the official definition.
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
RandomRanger 1yr ago
I don't think it really matters how GoF researchers and health officials choose to define it.
What matters is how a court defines it when the GoF researchers and funders get arrested (plus whether there is the will to actually prosecute).
Get someone who wants to stop this and can control the FBI into POTUS, tighten up the laws if necessary (which it's probably not), and it stops, because after you throw the first few people in jail the rest will decide 5 minutes of fame's probably not worth it.
It's pretty clear we didn't want this research to take place, but Fauci & Co. wanted it very much. So yeah, legalistic arguing over what the definition of "is" is is just the ticket.
It's also pretty clear that the unelected government does not view our laws as legitimate and will nullify them whenever it sees fit. Did anyone from the intelligence community go to prison for domestic spying after we passed a law against it? No. Just ask Martha Stewart, who went to prison for lying to FBI agents. The punishment for lying to us was to get hired by the mainstream media to amplify their voices.
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Notes -
What's the point?No, really -- let's say you win. You've convinced the entirety of the western public that COVID-19 was made in a Chinese biolab. Okay, now what?I have 180°'d on my opinions, thanks.
"Ok, we've proven that these reckless virologists killed tens of millions by negligently releasing an extremely dangerous virus, causing a giant global crisis. Who cares?"
Imagine it was just discovered that burning coal caused millions of deaths via air pollution. This would and should be big news! We would be able to do something about it, stop future deaths by finding alternative energy sources. And if it was known that key 'coal science researchers' had hidden this information for the benefits of their prestige and funding, we could do something about them too.
Even that understates the issue because coal is really useful, it sustains technological civilization. GoF research provides at best modest gains to research. It would be like discovering that ultra-high altitude balloons killed millions of people. Obviously you just ban the balloons.
We already banned gain-of-function research.
Why do you think Fauci & Co. had to outsource it to China and Ukraine?
One week ago: https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/10/18/scientists-make-new-covid-variant-with-80-kill-rate-in-mice/
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I recall Fauci's interpretation of gain-of-function research was extremely narrow, Ron Paul had a spat with him about it. We had that Boston lab doing something very similar to gain-of-function research that meets my common-sense definition (since they were splicing two COVID viruses together) but probably not the official definition.
I don't think it really matters how GoF researchers and health officials choose to define it.
What matters is how a court defines it when the GoF researchers and funders get arrested (plus whether there is the will to actually prosecute).
Get someone who wants to stop this and can control the FBI into POTUS, tighten up the laws if necessary (which it's probably not), and it stops, because after you throw the first few people in jail the rest will decide 5 minutes of fame's probably not worth it.
More options
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It's pretty clear we didn't want this research to take place, but Fauci & Co. wanted it very much. So yeah, legalistic arguing over what the definition of "is" is is just the ticket.
It's also pretty clear that the unelected government does not view our laws as legitimate and will nullify them whenever it sees fit. Did anyone from the intelligence community go to prison for domestic spying after we passed a law against it? No. Just ask Martha Stewart, who went to prison for lying to FBI agents. The punishment for lying to us was to get hired by the mainstream media to amplify their voices.
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