[Closi]

> Hitchens' razor applies- what can be stated without evidence can be as easily dismissed without evidence.

I think the problem is that there is very little evidence exists for the other explanations - and an absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

The lack of non-circumstantial evidence for the "Lab Leak" theory can be partially explained by the fact that China blocked investigations within the lab until 2021, and there are obvious and strong geopolitical reasons why they would want to destroy evidence if the 'lab leak' theory WAS true. This is from a country already known to perform cover-ups.

So this is the problem - if the hypothesis was true, any biological evidence would have most likely been intentionally destroyed, which means we can't really apply 'Hitchens Razor'.

[jiscariot]

US officials also have the strong incentives to muddy the waters for lab-leak. I mean, if true, we likely funded it since Fauci's NIH was giving millions in grant money to Daszak/EcoHealth Alliance, which was studying bat corona viruses and arguing with the government over their gain of function research.

Oddly Vanity Fair has done the best deep-dive I've seen on this. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/the-virus-hunting-no...

[lubesGordi]

Not only that but tensions are already high with China; you really want to collapse that wave function? I'm pretty OK with that not being public knowledge.

[lmm]

Is it getting better or worse if we wait? Right now China probably wouldn't dare invade Taiwan, whereas in ten years they probably will. So yes, now is the right time to find out whether they're willing to cooperate with the rule-based international community or not.

[igouy]

> … very little evidence exists for the other explanations…

Well, there's evidence of transmission from mammals to people — "Sequencing has subsequently shown that mink-to-human transmission also occurred."

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe5901

There's evidence of novel coronaviruses occurring in mammals and then infecting people — "In May [2021], researchers reported that two coronaviruses in dogs recombined in Malaysia. The result was a hybrid that infected eight children."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/science/bat-coronaviruses...

There's evidence of "vendors selling live mammals, including raccoon dogs, hog badgers, and red foxes, immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic" at a Wuhan market.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8715

There's "Multiple positive samples … from one stall known to have sold live mammals, and the water drain proximal to this stall, as well as other sewerages and a nearby wildlife stall on the southwest side of the market, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2."

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8715

Please be more specific.