Thanks so much for this brilliant summary...Its a pity "journalists" cannot find your work on substack because of their lack of access to "the google"..
Well, given the extent of pushback we receive for discussing this, it's no surprise. Scientists For Science have bullied their way to the top of high-follower networks on Twitter, podcasts line Racaniello’s “This Week in Virology”, scientific funding bodies like NIH/NIAID, leadership positions in health science funders, and even Jeremy Farrar is now chief scientist at the WHO. Speaking up on this topic has all but killed my hopes of a career studying pathogens in the public domain, and I've even had former advisors warn me to not mention my work with them - it burnt every bridge I had in this network to publish & popularize this topic. Thankfully, there are other networks in the world.
Alex, Thank you for taking the time to write this, it is wonderfully written. I will share with others but it really needs to be widely distributed it is that good. I know how passionate you are and you put a lot into this. I have no science background but this was very easy to read and digest. I know you are very busy with other things and we owe you a debt of gratitude for writing this and contributing to this debate.
Very helpful for doctors that you wrote all this out. Thanks so much. Really clarifies gain of function history and background. In any field, centralized players with conflict of interest are expected to abide by the honor code. Jeffrey Sachs learned the hard way that in GOF, boys will be boys takes precedence over the honor code
"Imran Ahmed, chief executive at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, says any response has to include social media companies, as that's where attacks on scientists happen every day. Research finds that social media platforms can encourage the spread of scientific and medical misinformation.
Hotez says he and Mann are working on an upcoming project, collaborating on what they see as overlap in attacks on climate science and biomedicine and how to counter it."
Attacks on "biomedicine" ... I'm curious about how these stories are promulgated without any apparent skepticism by reporters.
Aiding and abetting the genocide of the Covid-19 injections through academically dishonest and ridiculous publications about Proximal Origins. It should go to trial. At the very least, all of their future papers should disclose not only that they failed to disclose their funding but also they wrote these widely-ridiculed examples of manipulative and incorrect “research.”
Fauci and others worked around the Obama moratorium on GoF research by routing NIAID funding through the EcoHealth Alliance and then to the Wuhan lab. Don't know if it was a crime, but it certainly was wrong.
Thank you Alex Washburne for your outstanding work on the origins of SARS-CoV2.
Your research paper (coauthored with Valentin Bruttel and Antonius VanDongen) on endonuclease footprints as forensic evidence of reverse genetic engineering/in vitro genome assembly is brilliant.
Thank you for this compelling, insightful, and disturbing account of the sociopolitical backstory of the origins of SARS-CoV2.
The ongoing war between ‘Scientists for Science’ and the ‘Cambridge Working Group’ strongly supports Thomas Kuhn’s claim that powerful sociopolitical forces drive scientific theories, dictate research programs, and shape public perception of the scientific enterprise.
Your account of the Kuhnian backstory of the origins of SARS-CoV2 also reminds me that:
(1). Lysenkoism thrives when seeds of pseudoscience take root in totalitarian soil, which is found in the East and the West. Anyone who looks into the FAKE science behind the wild origins/Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market narrative realizes that the self-serving group called “Scientists for Science” should be renamed “Scientists for Pseudoscience.” Did ANY of the Scientists for Science call out the shoddy work of Worobey, Andersen, Garry, and colleagues—the absurd faux-epidemiology papers published in Science (August 2022)? No. Everyone was silent. Scientists for Science!
(2). Ted Kaczynski made some very good points in his Unabomber Manifesto.
(3). We live in a dystopian society—a dark tyranny of Scientism, technocracy, and transhumanism—that would have shocked Orwell, Huxley, and Bradbury.
I would add a point to the above, of a curious paradox common within research grants advocating gain of function, such as DEFUSE.
1. The initial idea is that naturally emerging pathogens are distinctly possible if not probable, and therefore various gain of function is proposed to enhance collected pathogens to see which ones are dangerous, and then target these particular pathogens with geographic monitoring, allocation of vaccine research/ resources etc. 2. The obvious concern, is that once you have enhanced pathogens to infect human cells efficiently, the danger of unintended leaks arises. 3. This however, is downplayed in the very same research grant; it is clear from this process that the researchers themselves don't/didn't really believe that these pathogens are capable of a pandemic, either naturally occurring or enhanced; they think that any incident, whether natural or enhanced, is far more likely to result in a localised outbreak, but this will be contained, much like SARS in 2002-2004. That is why they were so blase about the whole process, and why they conducted such research in eg BSL2. You can probably file it under the dubious business model and culture of research grant reasoning and motives.
At its heart, the paradox is this: without enhancement the likelihood of a spillover leading to a broader pandemic is very unlikely, but this would mean their research is unnecassary, so they enhance the fear of a naturally occurring pandemic whilst at the same time downplaying the very same probability once identical viruses in the lab are enhanced: any incidents supposedly would only be localised, in order to justify doing the gain of function. But it's the same virus, actually now made more dangerous, not less. In my view, this inherant contradiction or paradox in reasoning, tied up with dubious motives within the culture of research proposals, probably led to the pandemic.
There's a reason for the Mad Scientist trope, which has existed since Frankenstein was published - maybe even before. There's a lot of unstable, or even evil, people out there in many areas of life including science. What I never see adequately discussed about COVID & other research of this type, is the question: IS THIS DELIBERATE BIOLOGICAL WARFARE? Something to be eventually used against an "enemy"? Is this why there were all these secret biolabs in Ukraine and perhaps why so many of the Western Establishment is obsessed with Ukraine - perhaps to hide what they've been doing? I've read in the past a conspiracy theory that says that Fauci was the head (perhaps secretly) of bio-warfare research in the US. I've found MOST conspiracy theories to be.....true...unfortunately, and I wonder if this one is as well. Why would they want to kill a whole lot of people? Well....why nuclear bombs????? Bio-warfare may be more....efficient and perhaps even financially rewarding for many people....like Dr. Fauci personally. And many others. We have to ask even deeper, and scarier questions about COVID, the people who created it, the people who hid it, the people who created and promoted the vaccine...etc. Another example, another "conspiracy theory"...COVID was created for the US Military/Intel establishment along with the "vaccines" and were farmed out to Big Pharma companies to actually distribute. I personally think this is likely but who's gonna investigate this? We can barely even DISCUSS it in the present censorious environment.
I should also note that while I do believe the US mlilitary industrial/intel community are ultimately responsible for the whole COVID disaster as it played out (for whatever reasons they had to create this, including perhaps global depopulation), that they farmed out much of this research deliberately to Commuinst China to bypass the US laws preventing "gain of function" research. So what really happened IN Communist China and who is responsible? I don't see any kind of blame, responsiiblility, accountability, consequences to ANYONE who has been involved in this COVID debacle.....including Fauci himself, who I understand is still employed by the US Govt in some function despite "retiring" from NIH. They're getting AWAY with it.
1. Who in the hierarchy of our federal government would this situation of promoting GOF of viruses to make them more susceptible, and more dangerous, to infect Human Beings be taken to for arbitration? WHO?
2. We the People know our current POTUS, who doesn't recall his dead son, Beau, isn't qualified to follow such a complex problem. And, We the People know our current VPOTUS lacks the intellectual capacities to grasp the complexities presented herein. So, WHO?
3. And, as the author has suggested their existence is real, how many scientists able to do GOF on existing Human viral pathogens to enhance them, to become even more pathogenic, simply to obtain funding and fame, are creating these potential Humanity ending monsters? WHO?
There is a good chance Donald Trump will be our next POTUS. I believe he listens to a great physician and surgeon and intellect, Dr. Ben Carson.
If he hasn't already read this frightening accounting, has anyone who can gain access to Dr. Carson approached him on the monumental threat to Humanity this scenario presents? Dr. Carson, having the confidence of former President Trump, could have a long sit down with Mr. Trump to allow the former POTUS to digest the potential hazards of this scenario. What Mr. Trump can do at this point, We the People do not know. But, if Mr. Trump is our next POTUS, he could begin to organize a response team to neutralize these potentially Humanity ending scientific experiments on day one of his second term beginning January 20th, 2025.
Given how bad things are regarding how disorganized and corrupted and dumb our federal government officials are now, I can't think of anything else anyone else can do at this point. I believe only a POTUS, properly educated to this potential monumental disaster, can effect the safety measures necessary to prevent a global catastrophe. I hate to sound like Chicken Little, but, one scenario suggested would be the sky is falling.with nuclear weapons.
Thanks so much for this brilliant summary...Its a pity "journalists" cannot find your work on substack because of their lack of access to "the google"..
Well, given the extent of pushback we receive for discussing this, it's no surprise. Scientists For Science have bullied their way to the top of high-follower networks on Twitter, podcasts line Racaniello’s “This Week in Virology”, scientific funding bodies like NIH/NIAID, leadership positions in health science funders, and even Jeremy Farrar is now chief scientist at the WHO. Speaking up on this topic has all but killed my hopes of a career studying pathogens in the public domain, and I've even had former advisors warn me to not mention my work with them - it burnt every bridge I had in this network to publish & popularize this topic. Thankfully, there are other networks in the world.
Alex, Thank you for taking the time to write this, it is wonderfully written. I will share with others but it really needs to be widely distributed it is that good. I know how passionate you are and you put a lot into this. I have no science background but this was very easy to read and digest. I know you are very busy with other things and we owe you a debt of gratitude for writing this and contributing to this debate.
Very helpful for doctors that you wrote all this out. Thanks so much. Really clarifies gain of function history and background. In any field, centralized players with conflict of interest are expected to abide by the honor code. Jeffrey Sachs learned the hard way that in GOF, boys will be boys takes precedence over the honor code
Thank you for this article, it is an amazing summary. I hope it gets wider notice.
Thank You.
I’m sharing it far and wide, Alex. Thank you for busting it open for all to see. Now, will any enterprising media types pick up on it? Let’s find out…
It is not so much an academic lobby as a military lobby. They get their money from the DoD, for whom the death of innocent people is not a problem.
https://danielcorcos.substack.com/p/radiation-the-other-conspiracy-of?
Absolutely amazing summary. Should be read everywhere.
From NPR..https://www.npr.org/2024/02/06/1228720142/michael-mann-climate-scientist-in-court-suing-for-defamation
"Imran Ahmed, chief executive at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, says any response has to include social media companies, as that's where attacks on scientists happen every day. Research finds that social media platforms can encourage the spread of scientific and medical misinformation.
Hotez says he and Mann are working on an upcoming project, collaborating on what they see as overlap in attacks on climate science and biomedicine and how to counter it."
Attacks on "biomedicine" ... I'm curious about how these stories are promulgated without any apparent skepticism by reporters.
They live entirely within a narrative Hotez has created, a narrative that doesn't match empirical reality. I wrote an article about this, too:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/what-some-call-anti-science-just-anti-authoritarianism
Wow! Thanks!
Wow great summary 🙏 they need to be jailed that would stop the research.
On what grounds should they be jailed? What crime did they commit?
Aiding and abetting the genocide of the Covid-19 injections through academically dishonest and ridiculous publications about Proximal Origins. It should go to trial. At the very least, all of their future papers should disclose not only that they failed to disclose their funding but also they wrote these widely-ridiculed examples of manipulative and incorrect “research.”
Fauci and others worked around the Obama moratorium on GoF research by routing NIAID funding through the EcoHealth Alliance and then to the Wuhan lab. Don't know if it was a crime, but it certainly was wrong.
Thank you Alex Washburne for your outstanding work on the origins of SARS-CoV2.
Your research paper (coauthored with Valentin Bruttel and Antonius VanDongen) on endonuclease footprints as forensic evidence of reverse genetic engineering/in vitro genome assembly is brilliant.
Thank you for this compelling, insightful, and disturbing account of the sociopolitical backstory of the origins of SARS-CoV2.
The ongoing war between ‘Scientists for Science’ and the ‘Cambridge Working Group’ strongly supports Thomas Kuhn’s claim that powerful sociopolitical forces drive scientific theories, dictate research programs, and shape public perception of the scientific enterprise.
Your account of the Kuhnian backstory of the origins of SARS-CoV2 also reminds me that:
(1). Lysenkoism thrives when seeds of pseudoscience take root in totalitarian soil, which is found in the East and the West. Anyone who looks into the FAKE science behind the wild origins/Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market narrative realizes that the self-serving group called “Scientists for Science” should be renamed “Scientists for Pseudoscience.” Did ANY of the Scientists for Science call out the shoddy work of Worobey, Andersen, Garry, and colleagues—the absurd faux-epidemiology papers published in Science (August 2022)? No. Everyone was silent. Scientists for Science!
(2). Ted Kaczynski made some very good points in his Unabomber Manifesto.
(3). We live in a dystopian society—a dark tyranny of Scientism, technocracy, and transhumanism—that would have shocked Orwell, Huxley, and Bradbury.
I would add a point to the above, of a curious paradox common within research grants advocating gain of function, such as DEFUSE.
1. The initial idea is that naturally emerging pathogens are distinctly possible if not probable, and therefore various gain of function is proposed to enhance collected pathogens to see which ones are dangerous, and then target these particular pathogens with geographic monitoring, allocation of vaccine research/ resources etc. 2. The obvious concern, is that once you have enhanced pathogens to infect human cells efficiently, the danger of unintended leaks arises. 3. This however, is downplayed in the very same research grant; it is clear from this process that the researchers themselves don't/didn't really believe that these pathogens are capable of a pandemic, either naturally occurring or enhanced; they think that any incident, whether natural or enhanced, is far more likely to result in a localised outbreak, but this will be contained, much like SARS in 2002-2004. That is why they were so blase about the whole process, and why they conducted such research in eg BSL2. You can probably file it under the dubious business model and culture of research grant reasoning and motives.
At its heart, the paradox is this: without enhancement the likelihood of a spillover leading to a broader pandemic is very unlikely, but this would mean their research is unnecassary, so they enhance the fear of a naturally occurring pandemic whilst at the same time downplaying the very same probability once identical viruses in the lab are enhanced: any incidents supposedly would only be localised, in order to justify doing the gain of function. But it's the same virus, actually now made more dangerous, not less. In my view, this inherant contradiction or paradox in reasoning, tied up with dubious motives within the culture of research proposals, probably led to the pandemic.
I’m so glad to finally know that I’m not a conspiracy theorist! Golly gee.
I also know that God is sovereign and is taking names. All of these good deeds will not go unpunished. Can’t wait.
There's a reason for the Mad Scientist trope, which has existed since Frankenstein was published - maybe even before. There's a lot of unstable, or even evil, people out there in many areas of life including science. What I never see adequately discussed about COVID & other research of this type, is the question: IS THIS DELIBERATE BIOLOGICAL WARFARE? Something to be eventually used against an "enemy"? Is this why there were all these secret biolabs in Ukraine and perhaps why so many of the Western Establishment is obsessed with Ukraine - perhaps to hide what they've been doing? I've read in the past a conspiracy theory that says that Fauci was the head (perhaps secretly) of bio-warfare research in the US. I've found MOST conspiracy theories to be.....true...unfortunately, and I wonder if this one is as well. Why would they want to kill a whole lot of people? Well....why nuclear bombs????? Bio-warfare may be more....efficient and perhaps even financially rewarding for many people....like Dr. Fauci personally. And many others. We have to ask even deeper, and scarier questions about COVID, the people who created it, the people who hid it, the people who created and promoted the vaccine...etc. Another example, another "conspiracy theory"...COVID was created for the US Military/Intel establishment along with the "vaccines" and were farmed out to Big Pharma companies to actually distribute. I personally think this is likely but who's gonna investigate this? We can barely even DISCUSS it in the present censorious environment.
I should also note that while I do believe the US mlilitary industrial/intel community are ultimately responsible for the whole COVID disaster as it played out (for whatever reasons they had to create this, including perhaps global depopulation), that they farmed out much of this research deliberately to Commuinst China to bypass the US laws preventing "gain of function" research. So what really happened IN Communist China and who is responsible? I don't see any kind of blame, responsiiblility, accountability, consequences to ANYONE who has been involved in this COVID debacle.....including Fauci himself, who I understand is still employed by the US Govt in some function despite "retiring" from NIH. They're getting AWAY with it.
WOW!
So, my questions:
1. Who in the hierarchy of our federal government would this situation of promoting GOF of viruses to make them more susceptible, and more dangerous, to infect Human Beings be taken to for arbitration? WHO?
2. We the People know our current POTUS, who doesn't recall his dead son, Beau, isn't qualified to follow such a complex problem. And, We the People know our current VPOTUS lacks the intellectual capacities to grasp the complexities presented herein. So, WHO?
3. And, as the author has suggested their existence is real, how many scientists able to do GOF on existing Human viral pathogens to enhance them, to become even more pathogenic, simply to obtain funding and fame, are creating these potential Humanity ending monsters? WHO?
There is a good chance Donald Trump will be our next POTUS. I believe he listens to a great physician and surgeon and intellect, Dr. Ben Carson.
If he hasn't already read this frightening accounting, has anyone who can gain access to Dr. Carson approached him on the monumental threat to Humanity this scenario presents? Dr. Carson, having the confidence of former President Trump, could have a long sit down with Mr. Trump to allow the former POTUS to digest the potential hazards of this scenario. What Mr. Trump can do at this point, We the People do not know. But, if Mr. Trump is our next POTUS, he could begin to organize a response team to neutralize these potentially Humanity ending scientific experiments on day one of his second term beginning January 20th, 2025.
Given how bad things are regarding how disorganized and corrupted and dumb our federal government officials are now, I can't think of anything else anyone else can do at this point. I believe only a POTUS, properly educated to this potential monumental disaster, can effect the safety measures necessary to prevent a global catastrophe. I hate to sound like Chicken Little, but, one scenario suggested would be the sky is falling.with nuclear weapons.
Any other thoughts on saving our Humanity?
Excellent! Thank you for writing this 🙏🏻💯♥️