[mardifoufs]

That's not how the occam's razor work though... Also, we just didn't do GoF research or even had virology labs before the 1950-60s.

[jupp0r]

Well, it's very likely that the 1977 "russian flu" pandemic was caused by a Chinese lab leak during vaccine research [1].

https://theprint.in/science/lab-leak-is-the-biggest-suspect-...

[ImaCake]

Like you say, we couldn’t even do GoF when HIV and pandemic influenza became a thing. Why take seriously the feeble efforts of humans to recreate evolution in a lab when the real thing has demonstrated it’s terrifying effectiveness many many times?

[mardifoufs]

I don't necessarily disagree, I don't necessarily believe in the lab leak theory. I just think that we don't know, and might never know because we have such a limited understanding of the early days of the virus. Hence why I don't think occam's razor does not apply; we are at a weird crossroad where technology is advanced enough to make it entirely possible for us to "evolve" a virus in a lab yet we also are pretty vulnerable and defenseless against zoonotic viruses in the same way humans have been for hundreds of thousands of years.

[s1artibartfast]

WE absolutely have done successful GOF research with influenzas and coronavirus. There is a vast literature on the subject.