The following is a conversation with Rob Reed, entrepreneur, author, and host of the After

On podcast.

Sam Harris recommended that I absolutely must talk to Rob about his recent work on the

future of engineer pandemics.

I then listened to the four-hour special episode of Sam's Making Sense Podcasts with Rob,

titled, Engineering the Apocalypse.

And I was floored and knew I had to talk to him.

Quick mention of our sponsors, Athletic Greens, Balcampo, Fund, Rise, and NetSuite.

Check them out in the description to support this podcast.

As a side note, let me say a few words about the Lably Hypothesis, which proposes that COVID-19

is a product of gain-of-function research on coronaviruses conducted at the Wuhan Institute

of Virology that was then accidentally leaked due to human error.

For context, this lab is about safety level 4, BSL4, and an investigate coronaviruses.

BSL4 is the highest level of safety.

But if you look at all the human and the loop pieces required to achieve this level of safety,

it becomes clear that even BSL4 labs are highly susceptible to human error.

To me, whether the virus leaked from the lab or not, getting to the bottom of what happened

is about much more than this particular catastrophic case.

It is a test for our scientific, political, journalistic, and social institutions of how

well we can prepare and respond to threats that can cripple or destroy human civilization.

If we continue gaining a function of research on viruses, eventually, these viruses will

leak, and they will be more deadly and more contagious.

...