What could go wrong?
Howz that leftie gubment working there, commies?
Except Wuhan was no accident.
I think that what I’m saying here is relevant across our entire society, including scientific labs. I’ve been in the hospital a couple of times last year. Of the dozens of people I came into contact with, there were a literal handful I thought had normal competence. Some of them may have been competent, but they spoke only a few halting words in English, which came damned close to getting me killed. Whenever I had the chance, I asked the competent people about the labor situation. Here’s what they had to say. DEI and ESG were having a negative effect on the staff and the outcomes of patients. The incoming generation of workers is entitled and simply won’t do some jobs which they consider beneath them. The general level of competence in the workplace has decreased. Workers know several different genders but are not great on thinking or figuring things out. There just aren’t enough workers to choose from, so institutions hire whatever if available. (Economists call this “over employment.” That means the people hired are not suitable.)
In the case of biolabs, they get a grant, and then they must staff it. If there aren’t any competent people available, they’ll take what they can get. A lab containing agents that could wipe out a significant number of people if the agents got loose, is not the place for this. But if they don’t staff up with whatever they can get, they lose the grant and probably all future grants. What to do, what to do?
How many were really accidents...?
p
They were not accidents. An accident is where one picks up a pound of unsalted butter instead of salted butter. Or vice versa. or in the throes of passion, calls a current flame an old flame’s name. I.e. calls a new wife a former wife’s name. Or vice versa.