This is an excellent and very thoughtful essay, but I might ask you to reconsider your opinion that the lab-leak theory has been proven 'probably true'. There are many, many excellent scientists (Angela Rasmussen, Kristian Andersen, etc.) who are convinced the theory is false and plenty of articles that have pushed back against it (e.g., https://theconversation.com/the-covid-lab-leak-theory-is-dead-heres-how-we-know-the-virus-came-from-a-wuhan-market-188163). At worst, I would characterize it as 'possibly true'.
Hi John, thanks for this. My intention was not to argue one way or another, but to instead illustrate how narratives have shifted so erratically in the past few years. If we just look at the highest level, the Biden Administration itself, officials in July 2021 were mulling over the idea that "the lab leak hypothesis was just as credible as the natural origins explanation."
Thanks, glad you liked the piece. The summer 2020 riots still feels like something completely out of a fever dream. I wasn't even in the country at the time, but probably experienced it as so many did in the U.S. anyway: through synchronized emotions and screens, a shock that exploded with such extreme energy and then disappeared just as quickly, and then onto the next emergency...
Anton,
This is an excellent and very thoughtful essay, but I might ask you to reconsider your opinion that the lab-leak theory has been proven 'probably true'. There are many, many excellent scientists (Angela Rasmussen, Kristian Andersen, etc.) who are convinced the theory is false and plenty of articles that have pushed back against it (e.g., https://theconversation.com/the-covid-lab-leak-theory-is-dead-heres-how-we-know-the-virus-came-from-a-wuhan-market-188163). At worst, I would characterize it as 'possibly true'.
Hi John, thanks for this. My intention was not to argue one way or another, but to instead illustrate how narratives have shifted so erratically in the past few years. If we just look at the highest level, the Biden Administration itself, officials in July 2021 were mulling over the idea that "the lab leak hypothesis was just as credible as the natural origins explanation."
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/16/politics/biden-intel-review-covid-origins/index.html
I will make a small edit to make this clearer because neither position is really relevant to my piece here. 'Possibly true' is better stated.
Thanks, and I agree - it's secondary to your thesis.
Thanks, glad you liked the piece. The summer 2020 riots still feels like something completely out of a fever dream. I wasn't even in the country at the time, but probably experienced it as so many did in the U.S. anyway: through synchronized emotions and screens, a shock that exploded with such extreme energy and then disappeared just as quickly, and then onto the next emergency...