..... to anyone typing 'gain of function'....... thanks for showing us you never watched the video!
@paulfredriksteiner Says:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA TRYING TO TELL US THAT THE BIOLABS DONT MAKE NEW STRAINS OF VIRUSES
YOU MUST HAVE LOST YOUR MIND
@BenersantheBread Says:
This is just sad honestly. There are like 10 completely incompatible conspiracy theories being perpetuated in the comments but it doesn't matter as long as you get to say something about covid was shady. Fuck scientific literacy, I want to feel smarter than the CORRUPT AND EVIL experts!
@southpawnews Says:
Stewarts worst take ever
@lucypeters6940 Says:
Jon Stewatr, Is that a Scottish Royal name? Helped fireman in 911. Good 4 him, now what
@Colin_A_Love Says:
I don’t disagree that some designer virus wasn’t unleashed. This is outside my usual bailiwick in term’s being able to follow the science at more than a cursory level. It’s insane the amount of disinformation, media tail chasing and outright lying that gets into the everyday realm of public discourse. If there’s a conspiracy theory I could buy into it would be that hostile state actor(s) work to amplify the worst narratives found on the darkest corners of the internet. However an accidental release of a pathogen due to bad practices, arrogance, corruption eating away at an already opaque system’s safety practices. There are documented cases as far as my limited time, money and energy investment on the topic of screw ups at labs which study virology. The I’ve read a breakdown that seems to be making appearances on what appear to be legitimate sources. SARS escaped containment in Singapore in the around the early 00’s, institutional competence kept it contained to a researcher exposed on site. In Taiwan in the 90’s at a facility under the umbrella of the military studying SARS had a researcher broke all basic practices during a spill exposing himself. He went off site to his residence but then reported he had contracted the virus within hours or a couple days. Taiwan was just coming out of 40 years of martial law best practices were instituted on paper but not in practice. Saving face for himself and the army was what I heard pushed this guy to try and die quietly. While positive societal forces a (family member) tipped this bad situation back from being a catastrophe resulting in containment. We have a well documented and internationally recognized example of anthrax getting released due to a system failure venting the virus into the air in central Sverdlovsk USSR. A case that the Russian government admitted to in the 90’s in which hundreds I believe were infected while the death toll is disputed. The foremost Beijing virology lab suffered a leak in the 00’s of SARS where if sources are to be believed which is difficult in an opaque regime like China. A lab that was operating using some of the worst Soviet era practices, described like a better funded and more modern version of the conditions on Anthrax Island in the Aral Sea. Non specialized refrigeration was used, isolation in contained areas was foregone. The university lab the foremost in China at that time was built in the 50’s and had not been significantly overhauled. Overcrowding was blamed for the systemic breach which became standard operating procedure at that time. Loss of power possibly turned off by accident during cleaning caused a sample to become active. A grad student was infected and she then took the train home to her parents for a state holiday when everyone else has the day off and does same. The researcher realized what happened and contacted authorities but the amount of primary and secondary contacts was very high. Only two cases were reported but as is common in systems opaque by design dozens or hundreds may have been exposed. Only prominent cases unable to be hidden were admitted to, this would be a very ugly situation. Biological warfare is something that is pretty well documented for a clandestine program as many Eastern Bloc and other states with programs have undergone regime change. I take a dim view that a virus was weaponized to do something other than making it more efficient at what it already does. For me the suspect scenario is the fact that pro-democracy protests shut down Hong Kong as Beijing asserted control breaking the UK-China handover treaty. I could realistically entertain the notion that if Beijing thought it was facing potential threat to rule of the party they might be crazy, desperate and uncaring enough to let a “mild” domestic SARS outbreak spring up. That the world caught Covid in that case is collateral damage. More likely a government famous for short cuts and facades screwed up. The virus is native to the area and health and safety are not taken seriously so we will probably never know. Of course unless somehow China undergoes a democratization so rapidly that state security doesn’t have time to burn all the archives. A suspicious mind could say the guilty party flooded the zone with disinformation and China played the race card like they do when they get caught spying at American universities. I’ve enjoyed watching some of your work and the fact that people turn on a dime when a person doesn’t fully line up with their way of thinking is worrying. I’m not a long term viewer or anything but I’ve seen good work that played out well over time like with the Titan. I’m not sure what I would be doing in your position I probably would be trying to play triage and staunch the bleeding due to disinformation. The lab leak has taken on an insane life of its own used to help justify war for example. Facts are getting the beat down and the results are going to hurt for years if we can right the ship.
@Ioganstone Says:
semantic trash
@BornTrespasser Says:
Fort 'D'-trick (sound it out) then look it up. Look up mysterious illness at nursing homes article in NY Times in areas around the base in the Fall of 2019. This vy-Russ was detected in waste water in Italy in September 2019.
@gulanhem9495 Says:
It's amazing how ideology and political indoctrination can suppress critical thinking and sense of judgment.
@KBA3AP Says:
Why virus biolabs exist? Because we figured out how to increase the incidence viral mutations with radiation exposure. If you can select mutated viruses for virulence or compatibility with human tissue, that obviously becomes a accelerated viral evolution, bound to a lab. Once you have those viruses, you can obviously try to target them with meds before said virus appears in nature.
The lab leak of said virus will result in what we've observed.
@htrgermany Says:
You have good videos too. Not just these lies ;)
@htrgermany Says:
Yt keeps deleting my comments 😂
@justincartwright6907 Says:
Why was this video even made? You're debunking claims that weren't ever made...
@Loomr Says:
You are an intellectually dishonest man mr Thunderfoot as usual. The modification of viruses has been demonstrated many times and you are completely mischaracterizing these results. Even the sentence in the wikipedia article that you highlight is misleading ; try reading the previous sentence. You seem to be making a strawman argument about the impossibility of engineering a virus, by that I assume you are trying to say that we cannot build a virus from the scratch. But no one made that claim, expect you. You further make a claim that because we can't cure cancer, we couldn't modify viruses - which we actually have done. You then try to switch your argument to why it would not be in the interest of someone to release a modified virus ; again a completely different issue. The reason you are doing this is because your original argument is a dishonest strawman argument. You sir, are essentially a liar.
@User-s7j5u Says:
The amount of government trust on display in this video is astonishing
@DominicFlynn Says:
Evidently Thunderfoot didn't even bother reading The Lancet COVID-19 Commission
@PlumeBlue Says:
Yes, humans can create viruses. In laboratories, scientists use advanced biotechnology to modify existing viruses or synthesize entirely new ones. These activities are usually conducted for legitimate purposes, such as developing vaccines, studying diseases, or exploring gene therapies. For example:
1. Vaccine Development: Scientists sometimes create weakened or inactivated versions of viruses for vaccines. For instance, the polio and flu vaccines are based on modified viruses.
2. Gene Therapy: Modified viruses, like adenoviruses, are used to deliver genes into human cells to treat genetic disorders.
3. Research: Creating or altering viruses helps researchers understand how viruses evolve, spread, and cause disease, which can aid in preventing future outbreaks.
However, there are risks associated with such research, especially if it involves gain-of-function experiments, which enhance a virus's ability to infect or transmit. To mitigate these risks, strict ethical guidelines and safety protocols are in place. While bioterrorism or misuse is a concern, most scientific efforts aim to benefit humanity, not harm it.
@Mystic_Robot Says:
It took me 1 year of elementary chemistry, 1 year of general inorganic chemistry, 1 year of organic chemistry, and 1 semester of biochemistry just to be able to understand and mix a few chemicals, a 3 week project, just to make a luminol reaction that lasted HALF a second as my midterm project. Fireflies made me realize how much Hollywood blinded me to how litltle progress science actually has made at the nano level. Yet, these same movie amd conspiracy addicts think several million doctors are all out in perfect coordination to depopulate the world.
@LD-qj2te Says:
Thanks for sober scientific truth and logic
@Dan-The-Kayak-Man Says:
Well yeah the idea that this was some cleverly engineered bioweapon is stupid. But the lab does just breed viruses and study the mutations. Eventually you and up with some pretty gnarly viruses. It’s not impossible that a virus that was mutated in a lab and being tested on escaped especially given what we have seen are massive holes in safety protocols in the Wujan lab.
@TarasKur Says:
Flawed logic with the hurricane research center in Florida, which shows that the presenter is an idiot. Bats with the suspect corona viruses live 1000km south of Wuhan. Good analogy is a hurricane research center in Toronto, Canada.
@doliniplanini2260 Says:
the herd is vaxxed here. move along, goy.
@tonymacaroni7458 Says:
You must be a paid shill, your a scientist? GTFOH, this wont age well uidiot
@brianmurphy8790 Says:
Ya should probably stick to taking the piss out of Elon.
@ScottAmbrose-rc2xq Says:
Thunderfoot needs to read Micheal Chrighton.
Unintended consequences, nature finds a way ect.
So impossible that people did stuff with repercussions beyond what they intended?
@ExodusCore Says:
Thunderfool became a communist CCP mouth piece.
@thepuncakian2024 Says:
Apparently artificial selection does not exist
@DoubleBob Says:
Why is thunderf00t so deliberately dishonest in this video?
@clearlypellucid Says:
This is just about the dumbest take I've ever heard. What makes you think Wuhan is the most virus-driven place in the world? It's nowhere near the city with the highest population density. It's not built in a highly mosquito-prone region compared to other places. It's not even in the top 100. I mean...you've based your entire argument on so many faulty premises it's absurd. I used to respect you, man.
@williamcashell6357 Says:
Just some thoughts. I am in agreement with all your main ideas, I may have misunderstood parts of this and I’m too tired to listen again but I do have some constructive criticism. Humans do have a history of weaponizing viruses, just to no great effects. I can think of the Germans using hoof and mouth disease in America in ww1. I’m not debunking anything you said but it’s an example. It didn’t work and that furthers your point but I’m just being accurate. We can use viruses to infect people in controllable ways with gene therapy, can’t we? I really asking I’m not sure. Anyway, I highly doubt I’ll ever feel the need to do this again, you seem very smart and your videos are great.
@seriousspikesam7770 Says:
Would it be more likely to "accidentally" release a relatively harmless virus to the world, greatly exaggerate its deadliness and then sell you the cure for it for a billion dollars?
If there's a way to profit with something, there's always a way.
@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan Says:
Didn't the soviets weaponize smallpox in the 70s?
@katiebarber407 Says:
they "broke the big breaking news" wow thats very legit
@katiebarber407 Says:
wow, john stweart sounds as insane as the republicans in that clip
@drezmelk Says:
Viruses do not self replicate and require a host. You said that they do, this does not disprove your entire dissertation but it certainly taints it. Many other small flaws so far, but what would I know only perform medicine for a living.
Viruses do change rapidly and pick up other characteristics and this can be forced though to the degree of humans adding “x” amino acid or if I change adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine sequence I can be certain I will get this change…. But you do get change and sometimes that change is really bad with increased virulence. And when it does this is your gain of function, though honestly there is probably a lot more loss of function than gain.
@TechnicallyTechnical Says:
Haven't labs been able to create antibiotic resistant strains of TB or more infectious strains of anthrax?
@SavingMsBlack Says:
Dude. You’re right about so many things, and wrong about this.
@MWcrazyhorse Says:
The virus would not be the method to do it.
The vaccine-injection would.
@davidwatson8118 Says:
Conspiritards galore 🤣
@sarahkatherine8458 Says:
14:02 I think evading group behaviors is actually the easiest part, just claim that this is a deadly virus escaped from a lab in China and people in Western countries will try their best to get infected by it.
@chr1sda1sey Says:
You do realise that John Stuart and Stephen Colbert are satirists
@EdnovStormbrewer Says:
Engineering a virus is not impossible. Although it is difficult to maintain and try to replicate it, it is a mutation. Unfortunately it seems that Thunderf00t is more than willing to die on this hill with that title because he thinks he's right.
@lorax2013 Says:
How can thunderfoot be so obtuse? Is it intentional?
@MrDleef Says:
This whole video is a strawman. When he finally mentions gain of function (for like 5 seconds) he says at about 15:29 "any genetic tinkering that's been done with these things is at best a sort of mildly enhanced evolution". Yeah, that's what most people are suggesting when they mention a lab leak. 16 minutes of nonsense strawman just to offhandedly admit that what we are suggesting is actually possible and not debunked at all. We're not suggesting the "all new Ford F150" built from the ground up, were suggesting last year's model with some slight engineering modifications to the suspension system to make for a smoother ride.
@mercurio822 Says:
Time for you to do some Criticism of Islam.
@arthurv8905 Says:
I have been a watcher of your videos since 2009, but I do not accept the logic in this video. You seem to conflating engineering a virus from the ground up and modifying the genome of an existing virus to achieve some kind of desirable phenotypic trait, such as higher transmissibility. We absolutely can "engineer" a virus in the latter sense, and do it all the time. If your understanding of pathogen genomics and molecular biology is based in 2009, when you last engaged in a project which involved these fields of study, then you simply have no conception of what is possible in the modern era. Was SC2 engineered? I don't know. Could it have been? Yes. Would it have been a sensible way of achieving some goal of a nation like China? Absolutely emphatically not, it would have been an insane move.
I say this as someone with a PhD in Pathogen Genomics, who worked with SC2 over the pandemic, and is an author on some of the highest cited papers on the subject which came out of the UK.
@BetaDreTV Says:
How did lou gehrig get lou gehrig’s disease? How unlucky
@matth1589 Says:
Earthquakes are studied in earthquake zones because they are not portable. Volcanologists go to volcanoes for the same reason. We in the UK studied bio weapons at Porton Down. It's not for it's bio diversity, tropical diseases or it's environmental proclivity for viral mutation. It's the same way that say if you study why sodium explodes in water you don't have to travel to a sodium processing plant. Small things are portable, and can be taken to places to study them. Tectonic fault lines are big, making their postage prohibitively expensive.
@matth1589 Says:
Deliberately engineering a virus never seemed like a possibility to me. Tinkering around with a virus and ending up with something more lethal or infectious more less by chance seems more likely. As you note, evolution has no guiding intelligence at all and manages to create stuff that seems engineered for a purpose.
American research projects were sent to the Wuhan lab because it was cheaper to get it done there and much easier to get past all the red tape that would make it expensive and slow to do it in the U.S.A. I don't think it is too outlandish to believe that the origin of a virus outbreak might be connected to a lab that is doing research on that type of virus. They at the very least have decided to accumulate a concentration of viruses in the middle of gigantic population centre, rather than say in the middle of nowhere, and then proceeded to blunder around them with our currently limited tool set and understanding.
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