I wrote a long post in reply to this, but HN lost it :( :(
I feel that people are over-simplifying this issue greatly on both sides in this thread. Basically, it seems like the definition of GoF is not totally agreed upon even by top scientists. A lot hinges on intent/expectations, but of course scientists can't perfectly predict what will happen with these experiments.
It seems like the research referenced was not "GoF" research in the sense that it wasn't intended or predicted to cause GoF. But at the same time, going back to even 2015, there was criticism that this research was risky, even if it technically was not GoF research.
Some scientists also seem to think we should be doing more GoF research to learn more before the next pandemic.
These are the links I read, both of which I thought were pretty even-handed. For the record, I often think fact checking sites present totally biased nonsense, but in this case it seemed okay.
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain...
Thread from an MIT researcher quoted in the article:
https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1370880584936001541
I feel that people are over-simplifying this issue greatly on both sides in this thread. Basically, it seems like the definition of GoF is not totally agreed upon even by top scientists. A lot hinges on intent/expectations, but of course scientists can't perfectly predict what will happen with these experiments.
It seems like the research referenced was not "GoF" research in the sense that it wasn't intended or predicted to cause GoF. But at the same time, going back to even 2015, there was criticism that this research was risky, even if it technically was not GoF research.
Some scientists also seem to think we should be doing more GoF research to learn more before the next pandemic.
These are the links I read, both of which I thought were pretty even-handed. For the record, I often think fact checking sites present totally biased nonsense, but in this case it seemed okay.
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain...
Thread from an MIT researcher quoted in the article:
https://twitter.com/Ayjchan/status/1370880584936001541