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by theGnuMe 1215 days ago
I hate to break it to you but all human activity is the problem. Viruses will jump species and eventually hit pandemic levels. Research is required to minimize their impact. The bird flu could mutate and broadly infect humans killing millions. Swine flu likewise.
2 comments
baja_blast 1215 days ago
> The bird flu could mutate and broadly infect humans killing millions

Yes, but when humans are infected it takes a while for the virus to adapt the mutations needed to efficiently spread human to human. This was the case for SARS/MERS/Bird Flu. But in the lab they can insert FCS that are extremely effective at entering human cells and spreading. So if any of these research studies leaks out of the lab there is no way to contain it. Besides we have been conducting this research for decades and it did not help fight or predict this pandemic and in fact these researchers refuse to even share records/data they have collected. So best case scenario, this research is useless, worst case disastrous!

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theGnuMe 1215 days ago
The FCS genetic engineering hypothesis is extremely unlikely. The problem is people don’t understand the science and how it works.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2211107119

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chitowneats 1215 days ago
Most people in the 21st century want to believe we have forever conquered such things. Even after COVID-19, many believe that if we had just tried a little harder we could've turned back the tide.

I hope we remember the utter failure of "Zero COVID", especially in places like China, for a very long time. Humility is a virtue.

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autoexec 1215 days ago
> Even after COVID-19, many believe that if we had just tried a little harder we could've turned back the tide.

I can't speak to china, but "Zero COVID" wasn't even attempted in the US, and I'm absolutely certain that if we'd tried harder we could prevented tens if not hundreds of thousands of deaths. Many Americans made no effort to avoid getting infected and some went out of their way to get infected or to promote the spread of the virus while others were convinced even as they gasped their last breaths that the virus was hoax or clung to treatments that were ineffective or harmful.

The efforts we Americans should have made but failed to started long before the first cases were discovered as people had been warning us about the dangers of a global pandemic yet we were entirely unprepared. Our stockpiles hadn't been maintained. Our hospitals were already understaffed and under-equipt. Our population already under-educated and lacking critical thinking skills. We were not ready for a crisis.

We could do better for the next pandemic (and it is coming) but I haven't seen a lot being done to prepare us and a lot of damage has already been done which will take a long time to repair. The CDC has proved themselves to be unworthy of our trust, the government has proved that it will not adequately care for the needs of its people in an emergency, and our supply chains have proven to be critically fragile. I don't give us very good odds at doing much better when the next virus enters the ring and starts taking shots. We were tested, we failed, and we're still failing.

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chitowneats 1215 days ago
"'Zero COVID' wasn't even attempted in the US"

Nor shall it ever be. Inshallah. :bow:

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