Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Agency Now Says

Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by orlp on Sunday February 26, 2023 @04:25PM (#34949632)

I think if anything COVID has shown us that biological warfare makes as much sense as nuclear: none. In our globally connected world it's mutually assured destruction, and that's without even the need for your enemy to maintain stockpiles of weapons. The virus will find itself within your own borders soon enough.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by scotteric on Sunday February 26, 2023 @04:46PM (#34949845)

It still makes sense for things like anthrax that aren't easily communicable. Or botulinum toxin.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by orlp on Sunday February 26, 2023 @04:46PM (#34949852)

Fair enough, I meant viral biowarfare.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by cjbgkagh on Sunday February 26, 2023 @05:04PM (#34950019)

I should point out that some viruses are not easily transmissible either.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by nradov on Sunday February 26, 2023 @04:46PM (#34949847)

Terrorists motivated by religion or ideology sometimes use tactics and weapons that make no sense to rational people. The Aum Shinrikyo cult was developing biological weapons.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by jcranmer on Sunday February 26, 2023 @05:13PM (#34950120)

> The Aum Shinrikyo cult was developing biological weapons.

Sarin would be classed as chemical, not biological.

It's also worth illustrating that their primary terrorist act killed 15 people, after releasing sarin on 5 different trains during Tokyo's busy rush hour. You would have been more effective just lobbing a single grenade.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by nradov on Sunday February 26, 2023 @05:16PM (#34950150)

The cult used a chemical weapon. They were also developing biological weapons based on botulism and anthrax at the same time but fortunately didn't get a chance to use those.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by tptacek on Sunday February 26, 2023 @11:08PM (#34952854)

The same thing they just said about sarin vs. a grenade, you can say about anthrax vs. a grenade.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by tomp on Sunday February 26, 2023 @04:54PM (#34949924)

Only bad viruses. Good viruses will be genetically coded to only harm a particular subgroup.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by alchemist1e9 on Sunday February 26, 2023 @05:38PM (#34950403)

I was thinking that actually gives the United States a distinct advantage in such (hypothetical) biological warfare, it has the most diverse gene pool on the planet.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by Thiez on Sunday February 26, 2023 @09:13PM (#34952145)

That seems unlikely, I would expect most African countries to beat the US easily.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by bsder on Sunday February 26, 2023 @06:02PM (#34950634)

Until they mutate.

It is beneficial to the survival of a virus to infect the largest group that it can. A virus targeted to a small group of people has a large "survival benefit" the moment it can mutate to infect everybody.

In addition, it's really hard to target a biological entity at a specific subgroup of humans. From a biological standpoint, all humans are damn near identical.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by midoridensha on Sunday February 26, 2023 @08:56PM (#34952051)

You share 50% of your DNA with a banana.

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Re:Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Ag... by sofixa on Monday February 27, 2023 @06:03AM (#34955097)

> The virus will find itself within your own borders soon enough.

Depends on the virus - something with the long incubating periods and frequent lack of symptoms like Covid yes, but something much more quick and deadly (say, Ebola, even though 2-21 days is still potentially slow) could result in quick mass deaths without the opportunity to spread it around.

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