"May be" so maybe? Lol, no, of course not.

It takes time & effort to get to know a person IRL. But here, with a character limit, we're free to make a bunch of presumptions about total strangers. Love it.

Again, I appreciate your time. But I'm rethinking these stupid apps once again.

Huh. If I had to describe my position, it's that anyone with a strong belief either way may be falling for a conspiracy. Oh well. Appreciate the exchange. Take care.

Am aware, that's kind of the point.

And thanks for saying "far more likely" rather than undeniable.

More importantly, the risk of a lab leak (they've happened before, regardless of whether we ever determine SC2 origins) remains a clear/present danger. Opinion piece but these two are definitively SMEs:

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/o...

French dressing at a time of soaring national unity in Canada seems...how do you say...apropos?

nationalpost.com/news/quebec-...

Referring to Tetlock with fox, I'm not an armchair model. 😉

Agreed with that not long ago, no longer do, though readily admit that there are some conspiracists among the lab leak SMEs & I put minimal weight on their views.

If you're SME on virology/lab safety, I'll put additional weight on what you're saying. If an armchair fox like me, we can disagree.

And I'm not obsessed with the PO paper. I'm concerned that biolab safety and oversight may be woefully insufficient and extremely unlikely to get better in the current political environment. More likely worse. That's not nothing.

It was merely corroborative as I started to dig into the issue and reassess what I thought I knew (taken mainly from mainstream reporting at face value). IOW, "OK, this isn't just grandstanding for campaign dollars by Congressional GOP pols or troll accounts." That's all.

In Europe as well?

I have and do. And, again, I thought that too until reading FOIA responses and meeting more experts across political spectrum with strong opinions about it. Hopelessly politicized, sadly, but even a whiff of conspiracy, even if well intended, feeds the mis/dis info environment. Relevant 2 OP thread.

My question still stands to some extent maybe? If academic ability avg to low, seems like a wider range of possible outcomes in US? Debatable whether that's a good thing in aggregate though anyone with lower academic aptitude who's grasped the brass ring or still thinks they can might favor US.

Ok, thanks. My frame of reference was training with a Dutchman to work in the investment industry and he marvelled at the number of poorly educated rednecks around us. All of whom probably ended up making more money than us. 😄 Purely anecdotal.

We're clearly not going back to the days of Walter Cronkite types relating the facts as curated for the masses.

Oh good, then you won't flame me. ;) Small group of influential scientists decided to come out strongly in favor of wet market hypothesis despite lab concerns months preceding. I was fine with it until last year's FOIA materials. So ?ing how to address that kind of thing in OP's framework.

I think both Proximal Origins and the Iraq invasion are prime examples of institutional malfeasance. Which means I get abused on both the butterfly and the dead bird platforms. 😉😞

Good example. Can we avoid it in the internet age though? Was hard enough with the printing press!

Not an expert, please correct if wrong - in many European countries, aren't students put onto education, career tracks based on perceived aptitudes? Inequity in US a huge problem, no doubt, but (historically anyways) has US had greater social mobility (in both directions)? ~Wild West v Old World? 🙏🏻

*MTG. Whatever. 😄