Gone again
When you need her, there's always Patti Smith
LinkedIn bipolar syndrome. “Thanks again for being part of the LinkedIn community and for helping us to get our decision right.” Right?
Only for the next 10K impressions, and then Patti Smith kicked in.
We shoot our flint into the sun We bless our spoils and we're gone we're gone
“Your content is now back on LinkedOut.” 😂. So here it is.
A good scientist is a conspiracy theorist. Someone who can see a solution to a problem with very incomplete data. And then tries to disprove it. A bad scientist is someone who also sees that solution, but then only tries to confirm it. Only sees the data points that fit the unicorn. A bad scientist is also someone who does not wish to see the solution at all. Has no associations. In early 2020 I saw a conspiracy with only two data points. 1: a virus had emerged in Wuhan, where there is also a laboratory where these types of viruses are studied. 2: the virus contained a certain element, the furin cleavage site (FCS) that looked artificial with a code that is unusual for these types of viruses. I have tried very hard to disprove this solution ever since. Was there an intermediate host? Were the first victims closer to the Wuhan animal market than anywhere else? Were there other more plausible solutions? Instead, I only saw data points that confirmed the conspiracy. A 2018 research proposal, the infamous DEFUSE, which proposed inserting an FSC into a Sars-Cov virus to make it more infectious. A DNA cleavage site analysis of Sars-Cov-2 that found an unusual pattern with an enzyme mentioned in that research proposal. The biosafety issues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The FCS code that turned up in an old patent application. And still no intermediate host. I tried to interest my colleagues in my plot, but no one wanted to burn their brains. At some point you fall in love with an idea, and then try to remain objective. Then it is good that there are people who list all the pros and cons. Did I miss something? A blind spot? Fortunately, two reports came out this month that did just that. Listed everything. The Wuhan trilogy by Jan Bonte [only in Dutch so far but an English translation is in the stars], so thorough that he deserves an honorary doctorate and/or honorary professorship, and the final report of a special committee of the American House of Representatives on the corona pandemic. Many of my colleagues are now convinced of my "plot". Only journalism and politics [in particular in The Netherlands] do not wish to burn their hands on it, their pens or their brains. Hence the appeal by Maurice de Hond, which I wholeheartedly support.
Fortunately, there’s always Patti Smith.