IIUC isn't the lab leak hypothesis still one valid possibility?
* condensation from planes supposedly being harmful ‘chemtrails’
Couldn't this be confused with (a) planes pollute and (b) contrails are bad for the environment too? Note: I was unaware of 'chemtrails' and assumed it was referring 'contrails'
In any case, I don't think I believe in any "conspiracies" of the top of my head but I do believe in graft and I often see things and wonder why.
One example would be going to lunch at a FAANG company and seeing vending machines for cables. The vending machines are about the size of 6 large refrigerators next to each other. They have a large touch screen display. I'm guessing they cost $30k each or more, not including cost to develop them, network them, ongoing maintenance, etc. So, my conspiracy hat says "someone who stood to gain the contract to make them pushed to get them put in or knew someone and offered a kickback because the seem like they cost more than 50 years of the stuff they're dispensing. (happy to be proven wrong)
Another example is kitchen gloves that all food preparers wear now. I see them touch all kinds of things and get the gloves dirtier than my hands would ever be because with my hands I know when they're dirty by how they feel, more than I do than with gloves on. So, is it possible it's a conspiracy by glove manufactures? Of course my hands are not everyone else's hands.
There's the real "conspiracy" on how car companies pushed for freeways and roads. Is that a "conspiracy"? Most people push for laws that help them personally.
The real and possible lab leak theory was never about any bio weapons or bio weapons research. We still have no strong evidence for or against an accidental lab leak of non-bioweapon. But experts (including one of my friends who was tasked with looking into this long before mainstream media even thought of lab leak as a possibility) who have looked at it have seen no evidence of anything indicating that the virus was intentionally altered.
And, nope, chemtrails are not bad for the environment. It is just the wings which cause cloud formation.
They needs to be 'weapons', used intentionally. Would you call a tsunami a 'geoweapon'? Or Chernobyl a nuclear weapon (better example, as it's a man-made accident)?
Even the "theory" that pharmaceutical companies suppress a cancer cure could be argued for, since it's very common to write patents that are just used to "cover the market", not to guarantee a time of monopoly on innovations. And I've met people there that get enthusiastic about cancer being a incurable but manageable and the fact that that is a nice thing for the company.
I even think it is unhealthy that the word "conspiracy theory" is so negative. Because people do conspire, to all sorts of degrees. People that put their phones in a fridge when they were talking about secrets were once conspiracy theorists. Now they suddenly aren't. Like they were uplifted from a disgraceful state to a better one.
Some level of "conspiracy" thinking is no more than healthy. Although to be fair, the article doesn't suggest it isn't, not directly.
People should keep an open mind, think like a Bayesian. Some things are unlikely (like how nobody would notice a chip in your blood with all those MRI scans every day). Some things aren't (like a drug cancelled that worked but wouldn't make enough money).
> seeing vending machines for cables. The vending machines are about the size of 6 large refrigerators next to each other. They have a large touch screen display. I'm guessing they cost $30k each or more, not including cost to develop them, network them, ongoing maintenance, etc.
Not saying that you're definitely wrong.
But machines like that are often put in free of charge to the business owner. The machine operator company puts the machines in at their own cost, and handles stocking and repairs. The business owner gets a cut of the profits for letting them use their floor space.
I haven't seen these particular vending machines. But there are generic machines with touch screens that can dispense anything that will fit in their spaces. I have seen vending machines at airports where you can buy cables, chargers, headphones, etc. The development cost is written off over many thousands of machines.
A machine dispensing cables is easier to operate and maintain than one dispensing frozen microwave dinners.
Now, there is an opportunity cost for the FAANG company, where managers have to spend some of their time setting up and maintaining a deal like this. Too many distractions from core business is not a good thing.
But working with computers, there's always some type of cable or adapter missing. It takes time to find or buy one. So I can see how it'd be nice to always be able to get what you need in-house.
> There's the real "conspiracy" on how car companies pushed for freeways and roads. Is that a "conspiracy"?
I agree. Each individual company would have an obvious interest to push for things like that. No need to secretely meet with others and hatch elaborate plans.
> IIUC isn't the lab leak hypothesis still one valid possibility?
Lab leak and intentional bioweapon, one whose patient zero was in China, are totally different.
> Couldn't this be confused with (a) planes pollute and (b) contrails are bad for the environment too?
No, becuase of the "part of a secret government program" part.
There are reasonable hypotheses proximate to these conspiracy theories. There always are. But the claim per se is stupid. Incredibly stupid. They focussed on people who believed the claim as presented, without caveats.
> > IIUC isn't the lab leak hypothesis still one valid possibility?
> Lab leak and intentional bioweapon, one whose patient zero was in China, are totally different.
Any lab working on gain of function research is arguably by definition, working on bio weapons or bio weapon defense. I'm not saying I believe in the lab leak. I'm rather saying that it's not hard for me to believe that if you believe in a lab leak you believe the research that lab is doing is related to bioweapons, even if they weren't building a weapon.
> > Couldn't this be confused with (a) planes pollute and (b) contrails are bad for the environment too?
> No, becuase of the "part of a secret government program" part.
The article didn't mention a "secret governmen program". It just said "condensation from planes supposedly being harmful ‘chemtrails’"
stuff coming out of planes is harmful, full stop. So it's not hard to believe that seeing "condensation from planes supposedly being harmful ‘chemtrails’" is associated with / confused with, the actual harms.
> it's not hard for me to believe that if you believe in a lab leak you believe the research that lab is doing is related to bioweapons, even if they weren't building a weapon
Sure. But that isn't the claim. It's specifically "a biological weapon intentionally created and released by China" (emphasis mine) [1].
> The article didn't mention a "secret governmen program"
The study does. Chemtrails refer to "the trails left behind airplanes are toxic chemicals released as part of a secret government programme."
They're mostly water, though they can also contain impurities, e.g. "sulfur compounds (0.05% by weight in jet fuel)" [1].
More to the point: someone suspecting they're trails of pollution isn't unreasonable at first glance. Believing they're a secret government program to put toxic chemicals in the air is stupid. (I'm not ruling out governments poisoning their populations. Just that this particular way of going about it is incredibly stupid and obviously discoverable.)
* SARS-CoV-2 being a bioweapon
IIUC isn't the lab leak hypothesis still one valid possibility?
* condensation from planes supposedly being harmful ‘chemtrails’
Couldn't this be confused with (a) planes pollute and (b) contrails are bad for the environment too? Note: I was unaware of 'chemtrails' and assumed it was referring 'contrails'
In any case, I don't think I believe in any "conspiracies" of the top of my head but I do believe in graft and I often see things and wonder why.
One example would be going to lunch at a FAANG company and seeing vending machines for cables. The vending machines are about the size of 6 large refrigerators next to each other. They have a large touch screen display. I'm guessing they cost $30k each or more, not including cost to develop them, network them, ongoing maintenance, etc. So, my conspiracy hat says "someone who stood to gain the contract to make them pushed to get them put in or knew someone and offered a kickback because the seem like they cost more than 50 years of the stuff they're dispensing. (happy to be proven wrong)
Another example is kitchen gloves that all food preparers wear now. I see them touch all kinds of things and get the gloves dirtier than my hands would ever be because with my hands I know when they're dirty by how they feel, more than I do than with gloves on. So, is it possible it's a conspiracy by glove manufactures? Of course my hands are not everyone else's hands.
There's the real "conspiracy" on how car companies pushed for freeways and roads. Is that a "conspiracy"? Most people push for laws that help them personally.