[jjtheblunt]

evidence you base this on?

I don't have an opinion, but am curious.

I ask because there were released US NIH emails discussing a base sequence not close to any in natural sequences, and concern it was in fact synthesized under the "gain of function" funding provided to Wuhan from the NIH.

Obliquely related : https://theintercept.com/2023/01/19/covid-origin-nih-emails/

[Trombone12]

> I ask because there were released US NIH emails discussing a base sequence not close to any in natural sequences

If you are seriously asking, you'll have to be much more specific about which exact sequence is being alleged as impossible; there have simply been too many unsound claims about something mysterious in the initial isolates for me to be able to guess what particular claim you want disproven.

If it's the furin site specifically that's supposedly unnatural, then that's simply false, and you can easily find debunkings of this if you just search for "furin site debunk". As an example, here's a recent paper about a very similar furin site (parts of it being identical to the canonical covid-19 site) found in a corona virus from wild bats captured in 2021: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1995820X2... this is simply put explicit observation of this "unnatural feature" found in nature.

[nemo]

Please do not drag in unrelated, tangential threads, especially flame-bait material like this. Regardless of what you believe about the original topic, dragging this into totally unrelated threads only creates problems and is a disruptive behavior.

[bartread]

I mean, the parent of the person you're responded to made what is an increasingly shaky claim that COVID-19 was due to "natural spillover". I don't necessarily think it's wrong that that comment shouldn't be allowed to pass without challenge. I'm not sure we're ever going to know the real origins of COVID-19.

[Trombone12]

You asking a Replika AI for evidence against natural spillover does not amount to making the basic science "an increasingly shaky claim".

Also, try to use less double negations in your writing "I don't necessarily think it's wrong that that comment shouldn't be allowed to pass without challenge." is an atrocious construction.

[bartread]

It's peak 2023 that you blame me for your poor reading comprehension.

Which makes this acutely ironic:

> You asking a Replika AI for evidence ...

What are you actually talking about?