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zeynep tufekci
zeynep tufekci
zeynep tufekci
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zeynep tufekciVerified account

@zeynep

Complex systems, wicked problems. Society, technology, science and more. @UNC professor. @NYTimes columnist. My newsletter is @insight: http://www.theinsight.org 

floating in a most peculiar way
theinsight.org
Joined August 2009

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    1. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Sep 2021

      Another significant cache of documents related to coronavirus work at Wuhan Institute of Virology and EcoHealth has just been unearthed—again, by the same group of internet sleuths. Regardless of what you think of the content, this pattern is troubling. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/09/lab-leak-pandemic-origins-even-messier/620209/ …pic.twitter.com/nYMSTBU88g

      65 replies 859 retweets 2,714 likes
      Show this thread
    2. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Sep 2021

      Frankly, especially given the pattern of outright lying, cover-up and obfuscation on this matter, I don't understand how anyone can claim they *scientifically* know what's more likely. Existing (crappy, limited, censored) evidence is compatible with multiple scenarios.

      19 replies 85 retweets 766 likes
      Show this thread
    3. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Sep 2021

      Mysteriously missing: early sequences, databases, accounting of early cases, work we now learn *had been proposed* but we were told was a crazy conspiracy, an "investigation" led by conflicted parties, that was lied to but still proposed frozen food imports as plausible origin.

      7 replies 72 retweets 591 likes
      Show this thread
    4. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Sep 2021

      You might not have noticed it from media coverage, but some very senior folks in the field moved away from asserting no lab involvement. I thought their concern was the (again less reported) fact that WIV and WCDC had demonstrably lax lab/field practices. But now maybe also this?

      7 replies 52 retweets 477 likes
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    5. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Sep 2021

      Three specific issues. What actually happened? (May take decades). How to globally improve safety in research in fields with catastrophic tail risk? (Urgent regardless of one's theory of what happened). How the heck did *our* understanding of all this turn out to be so poor? (😢)

      18 replies 45 retweets 542 likes
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    6. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Sep 2021

      The Intercept story on the same recently unearthed grant proposal. Looks to me like many junior and/or out-of-the loop folks have been left to twist in the wind by more senior and/or in-the-know folks tbh—explains the divergence in their assertions, too. https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/ …pic.twitter.com/lME2wfyA6c

      10 replies 53 retweets 353 likes
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    7. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 12 Oct 2021

      New Yorker article, while mentioning the recently-unearthed WIV/EcoHealth grant—proposing, among other things, inserting a furin cleavage site to bat coronaviruses—reveals that the grant "really shocked" the DARPA reviewers with how "irresponsible" it was. https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-mysterious-case-of-the-covid-19-lab-leak-theory …pic.twitter.com/yVPWx2xnZw

      3 replies 80 retweets 377 likes
      Show this thread
    8. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 12 Oct 2021

      Also keep seeing this: experts in the field "surprised" to learn that WIV was doing experiments with coronaviruses that could infect humans under BSL-2 conditions. Ralph Baric highlighted that as a concern back in MAY OF 2020—and the basic fact is documented in WIV's own papers.pic.twitter.com/EiKMrVQvvK

      3 replies 59 retweets 285 likes
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      zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 12 Oct 2021

      EcoHealth/WIV proposed to "introduce furin cleavage sites into lab-created versions of SARS-related coronaviruses, recovered from bats in Yunnan. They planned to fully sequence and generate clones of three to five novel bat viruses each year." Clone=create virus that can infect.pic.twitter.com/7WS4YMsJxk

      9:43 AM - 12 Oct 2021
      • 48 Retweets
      • 251 Likes
      • Brennan's Crazy Uncle Justin Greg Bildson Jen Graham (Tedsmom) FellowHominid2038 Paul Bowes Bram De Witte Make Victoria Free Again 🌸 🌸 🌸 jjmplsmn🗽
      5 replies 48 retweets 251 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 12 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Josh Rosenberg

          This isn't like betting on horses. They wanted to take coronaviruses—like ones just found in Laos—very similar to SARS-CoV-2, but without a furin cleavage site, actively insert one, and make infectious copies—for three to six viruses per year! Like.. what?https://twitter.com/tweetjoshtweet/status/1447966629384556552 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Josh Rosenberg @tweetjoshtweet
          Replying to @zeynep
          Does this mean you're leaning toward the lab leak possibility?
          5 replies 44 retweets 312 likes
          Show this thread
        3. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 12 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted zeynep tufekci

          Anyway, my views aren't secret: I think bat coronaviruses were knocking on the door, and we didn't learn from the 2003 SARS near-miss pandemic. I also think research tail risk needs to be taken seriously, not shot down as conspiracy. Wrote essay in June:https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1408401280473632775 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          zeynep tufekciVerified account @zeynep
          For the second time in fifty years, we're pondering whether our research activities have sparked a pandemic like they did in 1977. A deep dive from me on what we *already* know about the origins of the coronavirus—and how we can learn the right lessons. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/opinion/coronavirus-lab.html … pic.twitter.com/IX9jFczCZ2
          Show this thread
          6 replies 43 retweets 329 likes
          Show this thread
        4. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 12 Oct 2021

          Meta-point is key players in Western countries *knew* of this grant proposal, kept it quiet while they participated in WHO investigations (ended up rating "frozen food imports" from *elsewhere* as more likely origins than anything lab related🙄), lead scientist letters, etc.

          5 replies 38 retweets 336 likes
          Show this thread
        5. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 12 Oct 2021

          (Not sarcastic). If anyone knows a good write-up defending the risk/benefit/knowledge ratio of this proposed grant, please do point me to it because this particular one is baffling to me. That DARPA (thank you, reviewer 2!) would not fund it is good to know, but not the answer.

          13 replies 18 retweets 218 likes
          Show this thread
        6. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted The Seeker

          More. In response to an Congressional inquiry, NIH says Daszak's EcoHealth was not complying with requirements from a 2018-2019 grant to "report immediately" on potentially dangerous experiments conducted in collaboration with Wuhan Institute of Virology.https://twitter.com/TheSeeker268/status/1450938549721710593 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          The Seeker @TheSeeker268
          "EcoHealth is being notified that they have five days from today to submit to NIH any and all unpublished data from the experiments and work conducted under this award. Additional compliance efforts continue." https://twitter.com/GOPoversight/status/1450934193177903105 …
          Show this thread
          3 replies 51 retweets 268 likes
          Show this thread
        7. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          We know from freedom-of-information requests (not by by traditional media for the most part) that EcoHealth's President Peter Daszak was instrumental in coordinating the high-profile "scientist response" to the question of origins, and was in both WHO team and Lancet task force.

          2 replies 35 retweets 252 likes
          Show this thread
        8. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          I hope all this is a lesson on the downfalls of credulity and group-think—even among smart people. People who *correctly* suggested that the required transparency, investigation and accountability were deeply lacking were branded as conspiracy theorists. That's how trust is lost.

          12 replies 114 retweets 780 likes
          Show this thread
        9. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          How German virologist Alexander Kekulé describes his reaction to the unearthing of the (unfunded!) grant application by EcoHealth/WIV. (Also note he later points out why/how the way forward is the same: better outbreak surveillance and lab oversight). https://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Kekule-sieht-neue-Hinweise-fuer-Laborunfall-article22875216.html …pic.twitter.com/1NOpLSAYS9

          8 replies 73 retweets 331 likes
          Show this thread
        10. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          More. EcoHealth had denied experiments with MERS but a missing NIH report Intercept JUST got says “We constructed the full-length infectious clone of MERS-CoV, and replaced the RBD of MERS-CoV with the RBDs of various strains of HKU4-related coronaviruses" https://theintercept.com/2021/10/21/virus-mers-wuhan-experiments/ …pic.twitter.com/SmjvceQplY

          10 replies 73 retweets 294 likes
          Show this thread
        11. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          So, EcoHealth submitted the fourth year report in 2018 and then, inexplicably, updated it in 2020 *only* to update the references? I've had big grants—who updates a report years later only for new references? Besides, can't even resubmit without agency approval? This is bizarre.pic.twitter.com/arVVDwL2dh

          6 replies 38 retweets 202 likes
          Show this thread
        12. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted The Seeker

          Also, this from the unearthed grant: shouldn't these"180 unique SARSr-CoVs" from bats EcoHealth says they collected be shared with the scientific community already? (As far as I know, they have not been disclosed yet).https://twitter.com/TheSeeker268/status/1440337832472576014 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          The Seeker @TheSeeker268
          Money quote #3 & #4: >180 unique SARSr-CoVs It defies any logic that Daszak still hasn't shared them with the scientific community. This does a lot more than raise questions about Daszak's integrity. pic.twitter.com/oD6TZI6tSN
          Show this thread
          5 replies 37 retweets 223 likes
          Show this thread
        13. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 21 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Marcus Weinman

          Here we go: maybe we could confirm that, indeed, there are no undisclosed sequences left. (I'll email and ask tomorrow). The numbers in the grant and here aren't an exact match: the organization itself clarifying all this would be good.https://twitter.com/Homozygoat_/status/1451380954249977858 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Marcus Weinman @Homozygoat_
          Replying to @zeynep
          He disclosed them right here...? https://twitter.com/PeterDaszak/status/1397346763103670282 … https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17687-3#MOESM1 …
          3 replies 13 retweets 115 likes
          Show this thread
        14. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 24 Oct 2021

          Dr. Ralph Baric, among leading coronavirus scientists, much to lose, honestly:"You can engineer a virus without leaving any trace." @Voxdotcom, OCTOBER 2021, citing a single commentary from way back, March 2020, *twice* to assert what "we know for sure". Why people lose trust.pic.twitter.com/RNILY9RbiL

          8 replies 37 retweets 193 likes
          Show this thread
        15. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 24 Oct 2021

          I don't think we can assign likelihood to the options tbh—a bit like dividing by zero, given lack of evidence or cover-up—but some do say "I think this is more likely". Fine. But "we know for sure"? There is a Turkish saying for this: more of a royalist than even the king.

          9 replies 11 retweets 129 likes
          Show this thread
        16. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 24 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Vincent Parbelle  🍓 🍓 🍓

          For the record! (Etymology is almost certainly from French to Turkish, as there was a period of massive French influence on the language). Also, French has some of the best quips about monarchies!https://twitter.com/VParbelle/status/1452331597630517253 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Vincent Parbelle  🍓 🍓 🍓 @VParbelle
          Replying to @zeynep
          Also a French saying: Être plus royaliste que le roi 😉
          7 replies 8 retweets 110 likes
          Show this thread
        17. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 24 Oct 2021

          After the Iraq War debacle, trust in media in the US dropped ~10-15% and never recovered. Good journalism isn't stenography. The way not to give fuel to misinformation and, yes, even absurd and terrible theories is to establish trust is through honest but *challenging* reporting.

          28 replies 113 retweets 595 likes
          Show this thread
        18. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Jamie Metzl

          Worth reading. The first WHO investigation on COVID origins ended up rating *frozen food imports* from elsewhere as *more likely* than even a lab accident, let alone anything else. A repeat of the same embarrassing debacle isn't in the public interest.https://twitter.com/JamieMetzl/status/1452981444679249922 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Jamie MetzlVerified account @JamieMetzl
          .@WHO SAGO is an important step toward better understanding the origin of #COVID19 & future pandemics, but the list of nominees requires some essential changes to make this possible. Here's our letter sent to @DrTedros @ @mvankerkhove earlier today. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355585072_Proposed_changes_to_the_composition_of_the_SAGO_committee?channel=doi&linkId=61779f59eef53e51e1ebdf46&showFulltext=true …
          9 replies 33 retweets 154 likes
          Show this thread
        19. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Oct 2021

          Two issues: what sparked this pandemic? May be unknowable, given the cover-up, but we can still learn to try to address *all* the possibilities. Second is about *us*. How can "frozen food" end up in a WHO report as a realistic option like that, for ex? Where's the deep coverage?

          11 replies 14 retweets 125 likes
          Show this thread
        20. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Oct 2021

          Lest anyone has any questions, I encourage people to look at the first WHO report to see their exact conclusions on what they considered "possible" (frozen food chain) and what they considered "extremely unlikely" (any lab incident), in explicit ranking. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/origins-of-the-virus …pic.twitter.com/OSp8QP5phG

          6 replies 10 retweets 83 likes
          Show this thread
        21. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 27 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Gary Ruskin

          Another letter on the new WHO origins group. The committee will have limits on access but a thorough accounting of open questions would be good. Having more people with the right expertise who demonstrate such independence and fewer who dismissed legitimate questions is helpful.https://twitter.com/garyruskin/status/1453118907246469130 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Gary RuskinVerified account @garyruskin
          Our open letter to @WHO asking them to remove ten proposed SAGO members for conflicts of interests and other reasons, and replace them with people who will inspire public trust in the WHO’s investigation of the origins of #COVID19. https://usrtk.org/biohazards-blog/public-comments-sago/ …
          2 replies 7 retweets 40 likes
          Show this thread
        22. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 27 Oct 2021

          (I don’t think having an opinion on either likelihood is disqualifying. Trust is inspired by willingness to engage the open questions rather than brushing them away or pretending there is no issue. Surely there are a good number of such people with the requisite expertise).

          6 replies 4 retweets 41 likes
          Show this thread
        23. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 29 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Mara Hvistendahl

          Yep. The people who *correctly* pointed out the obfuscations and the lack of transparency and accountability in the COVID origins investigation had long been dismissed as conspiracy theorists. Late conversions with shifting winds don't fix this dynamic.https://twitter.com/MaraHvistendahl/status/1454060376035893253 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Mara HvistendahlVerified account @MaraHvistendahl
          It will be interesting to watch how the NIH-EcoHealth Alliance spat plays out. Already I see people who dismissed @theintercept's FOIA lawsuit reinventing themselves as transparency advocates.
          2 replies 15 retweets 54 likes
          Show this thread
        24. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 29 Oct 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Joseph Reagle

          Agree that the below helped make "origins" a big mess. But I think this reality made it *even* more important that people on the side of science, good journalism and accountability to be not so dismissive of the *many* legitimate issues over the past year.https://twitter.com/jmreagle/status/1454164878998978560 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Joseph Reagle @jmreagle
          Replying to @zeynep
          Trumpists attempted to use the lab hypothesis as a diversion from their own bungling. Their incoherence claiming both that it was a deadly conspiracy, born in a lab, and of little concern and soon going away) eviscerated any chance of actual nuance.
          7 replies 12 retweets 64 likes
          Show this thread
        25. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 4 Nov 2021

          Recommended reading, both the Intercept article by @fastlerner and @MaraHvistendahl on how the NIH had reportedly been helping EcoHealth *avoid* oversight, and the full thread on why this matters, despite all the unknowns about the past. https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1456165187480797185 …pic.twitter.com/MGSjz981IG

          2 replies 24 retweets 69 likes
          Show this thread
        26. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 19 Nov 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Flo Débarre

          There's a new article in Science—and a NYT piece about it—concerning a contradiction in the WHO report. Guess what, the "internet sleuths" long-dismissed, had identified that exact issue last May. It was in front of everyone's faces, but ignored, as usual.https://twitter.com/flodebarre/status/1461477807498964999 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Flo Débarre @flodebarre
          FYI @MichaelWorobey @carlzimmer @benjmueller and others writing on the early cases: @franciscodeasis had found out about Chen a long time ago and it's a bit uncool not to credit him @acritschristoph https://twitter.com/franciscodeasis/status/1397227238764990469 …
          2 replies 13 retweets 52 likes
          Show this thread
        27. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 19 Nov 2021

          Plus, we now learn from Peter Daszak that the WHO team that signed off on a report claiming frozen food was more likely origins than any lab connection says they NEVER ASKED THE FIRST KNOWN SEAFOOD MARKET CASE WHERE SHE WORKED OR WHERE HER PRODUCTS CAME FROM. Kinda out of words.pic.twitter.com/1vn77TSJ6o

          2 replies 6 retweets 64 likes
          Show this thread
        28. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 19 Nov 2021

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted zeynep tufekci

          Anyway, thread of mine from last July noting the WHO report had a significant number of contradictions and unexplained issues. The so-called "Internet sleuths" had identified many already, and many were in-your-face obvious. What an embarrassing episode.https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1415659838193942528 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          zeynep tufekciVerified account @zeynep
          We know the early cases, as reported to us, were missing, incomplete and withheld. We know there are contradictions between earlier papers from Chinese scientists and what later got told to WHO. We know there are missing sequences and papers, even among what little got released.
          Show this thread
          1 reply 8 retweets 34 likes
          Show this thread
        29. End of conversation

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