> The conspiracy, of course, is that China, and specifically the Wuhan Institute of Virology, genetically engineered this novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, to specifically wreak havoc on human populations.

I thought the conspiracy was that the lab is where the virus research was being done and it somehow got out, not that it was specifically created there with human infection in mind.

It's easiest to debunk the theory making the most extreme claims, then pretend that's the only version of the theory.

Which makes me suspicious of the whole article which in turn makes me wonder if the theory is correct.

Suggesting it was a lab leak is not the same as saying it was genetically engineered. I can’t tell anymore if the people conflating the two are either stupid or malicious.

Cheap strawman.

I think most people claiming a lab leak believe that the virus was ultimately of natural origin, and was 'engineered' only in the sense of being tested in a lab and leaking from said experiments. Some also hold that it could be a recombinant strain produced in the lab, still with ultimately natural origins...

A lab leak doesn't require much other than carelessness and ignoring protocols. Engineering a virus that would become a world pandemic is practically impossible at this point and no one is really claiming that that happened.

One is far fetched the other is not.

As I understand it, a Chinese company now owns a large portion of Forbes

https://www.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN16Z0BW

At this point can we consider that whenever "Science" is used as a reified subject ("science shows"), the conclusion is almost guaranteed to be bullshit/wrong/politicized, etc.?

So, it's certainly not a bioweapon. We know that because it is so crap.

I don't see how that means it can't have leaked from a lab. Can anyone enlighten me?

The author of this article is astrophysicist not biologist or virologist. It appears to be propaganda for Chinese CCP!

and here was I thinking it was the Poughkeepsie branch. Thanks for the tip.

There’s barely any investigative reporting here. Reads more like an opinion piece.

The content does not support the headline.