76 min listen
How Did The COVID-19 Pandemic Actually Start? (w/ Alina Chan)
FromCurrent Affairs
ratings:
Length:
51 minutes
Released:
Jan 17, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Today's guest is molecular biologist Dr. Alina Chan, a fellow at the Broad Institute and co-author of Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19. She has been one of the most prominent commentators on the origins of COVID-19 and has attracted controversy for encouraging more serious consideration of the possibility that the pandemic began through an accident at a virology lab. She has been credited for changing the discussion about the issue and causing scientists and the media to pay more attention to the possibility of a lab accident than they were previously. In this episode we discuss:- The various possible ways the pandemic could have begun and why "lab leak" and "natural origin" can be somewhat misleading terms- How the politicization of the debate has gotten in the way of having a serious discussion about the facts, since the right is committed to the lab hypothesis and the left does not want to consider a hypothesis that the right is so committed to- What the actual evidence we currently have is (not much)- How investigations into COVID-19's origins have been compromised- What the stakes of finding the truth are, and how people's worldviews and narratives are threatened by conclusions they don't like- What a "lab accident" would look like and why it could easily come from well-intentioned research intending to stop pandemics, rather than nefarious attempts to manufacture a bioweaponThe articles in the Los Angeles Times and Science suggesting that the virus is unlikely to have been released from a lab are here and here. Nathan's own article on the origins of COVID-19 is here.
Released:
Jan 17, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
#1: Board Shorts: The panel dives into the Jobs Guarantee vs. Universal Basic Income debate, Nathan pitches randomized college admissions, and everyone shares their worst past belief. by Current Affairs