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A comment on The evidence which suggests that Covid-19 is not a naturally evolved virus [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:The evidence which suggests that Covid-19 is not a natura... by zxcmx on Saturday July 18, 2020 @06:49AM (#23880469)
Assume it's academic research.

Introducing feature X (regardless of effect) allows you to study X.

You do it to learn more about X, not because you particularly want to engineer something more virulent or lethal.

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Re:The evidence which suggests that Covid-19 is not a natura... by jkhdigital on Saturday July 18, 2020 @08:24AM (#23880928)
Yes, exactly, which is discussed in the paper. The goal of gain of function research isn’t about “let’s make viruses that do crazy shit,” it’s a method of hypothesis testing. When you can successfully add (or remove) stuff then you can test hypotheses that would otherwise not be testable.
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