We feel differently about this. Personally, I find all the evidence collected so far quite compelling. And I believe humanity has a responsibility to our children to investigate all worldwide pandemics to the fullest extent possible.
> Even if we did, it wouldn't change anything about what we ought to do
Whether or not it would change what we ought to do, it would absolutely change what we actually do. I think there would be broad public support for increased safety procedures at a minimum. The testimony I linked offers additional suggestions.
Your scenario of ending all GoF research might be on the table, or might not, but there is a broad range of less dramatic options available. Among them, locating GoF research labs away from densely populated metropolitan areas and international airports.
> Whether or not it would change what we ought to do, it would absolutely change what we actually do.
I actually think the obsession with root cause makes it less likely we'll create the interventions we need. First because it suggests to people that the root cause of this pandemic changes the risk calculation for future pandemics (it doesn't) and secondly because the mitigations of one root cause are distinct from the mitigations for another. And we actually need to mitigate both zoonotic and lab leak threat vectors.
> Your scenario of ending all GoF research might be on the table
To be clear I did not suggest this. GoF is an extremely broad term which includes e.g. mutating E. coli to produce insulin or other biologics. Increasing contagiousness of a lethal agent or increasing lethality of a contagious agent should become much more of a no-go zone though. That's a small subset of GoF research.
> locating GoF research labs away from densely populated metropolitan areas and international airports.
We should do this regardless of whether this pandemic came from a lab.
Which literally won't happen because the information does not exist in the world. Unless you're expecting a Chinese researcher to identify themselves as patient 0.
So your fixation on root causing is having precisely the effect that I mention, which is preventing mitigation.
I'm not sure what you've been talking about either! Seems like you have beef with someone about epidemiology. I don't know who. Or maybe you're just burnt out on discussion of the topic, which happens. Others of us are not. And that is OK.
We feel differently about this. Personally, I find all the evidence collected so far quite compelling. And I believe humanity has a responsibility to our children to investigate all worldwide pandemics to the fullest extent possible.
> Even if we did, it wouldn't change anything about what we ought to do
Whether or not it would change what we ought to do, it would absolutely change what we actually do. I think there would be broad public support for increased safety procedures at a minimum. The testimony I linked offers additional suggestions.
Your scenario of ending all GoF research might be on the table, or might not, but there is a broad range of less dramatic options available. Among them, locating GoF research labs away from densely populated metropolitan areas and international airports.