[cwwc]

The most BA conspiracy would be if the CCP thought about releasing a virus and said to themselves “hey, what will everyone need in a pandemic? Videoconference!” They funded Zoom, then released the virus and boom - they suddenly have access to every company and academic discussion out there.

If I plotting things, that’s how I’d do it at least. But alas reality isn’t a Bond film.

[wil421]

Why would you fund a “tech” company when you could corner the market on PPE? According to my local news a company told the federal government the US lack N95 manufacturing.

[tenpies]

Why not both?

And in some cases you don't even need to corner the market - just abuse your adversaries' psychology. For example, Canada, was sending tons of PPE to China in February. [1]

This turned out to be an awful decision and Canada was caught in a terrible shortage weeks later. China gladly sold PPE to Canada though.

[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2020/02/canada-...

[Aeolun]

> Why not both?

It’s a win-win-win situation.

But yeah, the fact that the entire world is dependent on China for cheap manufacturing is probably a bad thing.

[viraptor]

PPE is just PPE. Zoom is tech which will continue to be more established even when we don't strictly require it. It gives the possibility of silently monitoring corporate/government calls for years. And some stock market gains as a cherry on top.

[cwwc]

Good point