For decades, scientists have been hot-wiring viruses in hopes of preventing a pandemic, not causing one. But what if …?
By Nicholson Baker
What happened was fairly simple, I’ve come to believe. It was an accident. A virus spent some time in a laboratory, and eventually it got out. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, began its existence inside a bat, then it learned how to infect people in a claustrophobic mine shaft, and then it was made more infectious in one or more laboratories, perhaps as part of a scientist’s well-intentioned but risky effort to create a broad-spectrum vaccine. SARS-2 was not designed as a biological weapon. But it was, I think, designed. Many thoughtful people dismiss this notion, and they may be right.
Read the article in New York Magazine
SARS-2 was not designed as a biological weapon. But it was, I think, designed.
Nicholson Baker
See also
Opinion: To stop the next pandemic, we need to unravel the origins of COVID-19
Why some labs work on making viruses deadlier — and why they should stop
