The Lab-Leak Hypothesis & the Origin of Covid-19 | Alina Chan & Matt Ridley

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Business, Government

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2021

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 219 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Matt Ridley and Alina Chan. Alina is a Canadian molecular biologist specializing in gene therapy and cell engineering at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Matt is a British science journalist who has written countless bestselling books on subjects ranging from evolution, to innovation, to genomic science.

They are the co-authors of an electrifying new book titled "Viral" that grapples with the mystery of how Covid-19, a virus whose closest known relatives live in bats residing in subtropical southern China, somehow managed to begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometers away in the city of Wuhan, while leaving none of the expected traces that such outbreaks usually create. Instead, nearly two years into this pandemic we're presented with a trail of evidence that increasingly points towards the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the so-called "Lab Leak Hypothesis" as the most plausible source of the outbreak.

This is a critically important conversation to be having and Matt and Alina have made an invaluable contribution to it by working tirelessly and at great risk to themselves and to their careers in order to bring clarity to many of the facts and much of the evidence in support of the lab leak hypothesis—a theory that was consistently attacked and discredited by various actors, both wittingly and unwittingly, in the earliest days of the pandemic.

We normally release the second half of our episodes for our subscribers only, but because of how important this conversation is and because of how much Matt and Alina have sacrificed in order to educate us all on the origins of Covid-19, we thought it was only right to do as much as we can to share as much of their work as possible.

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Episode Recorded on 11/09/2021

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up, everybody? My name is Demetra Cofinas and you're listening to Hidden Forces,
0:06.2	a podcast that inspires investors, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens to challenge consensus narratives
0:14.0	and to learn how to think critically about the systems of power shaping our world.
0:19.2	My guests in this week's episode are Matt Ridley and Alina Chan. Alina is a Canadian molecular
0:25.2	biologist specializing in gene therapy and cell engineering at the Broad Institute of MIT
0:31.3	and Harvard and Matt is a British science journalist who has written countless best-selling books
0:37.0	on subjects ranging from evolution to innovation to genomic science. They are both the co-authors
0:43.5	of an electrifying new book titled Viral that grapples with the mystery of how a virus whose
0:49.7	closest known relatives live in bats, residing in subtropical southern China, somehow managed to
0:56.0	begin spreading among people more than 1,500 kilometers away in the city of Wuhan, while simultaneously
1:03.2	leaving none of the expected traces that such outbreaks usually create. Instead, nearly two
1:09.5	years into this pandemic were presented with a trail of evidence that increasingly points towards
1:14.9	the Wuhan Institute of Irology and the so-called Labelic Hypothesis as the most plausible source
1:21.4	of the outbreak. This is a critically important conversation to be having and Matt and Alina have made
1:27.8	an invaluable contribution to it by working tirelessly and at great risk to themselves
1:33.5	enter their careers in order to bring clarity to many of the facts and much of the evidence
1:38.9	in support of the Labelic Hypothesis that had been so badly muddled and discredited by various
1:44.4	actors both wittingly and unwittingly since the earliest days of this pandemic. We normally
1:50.9	release the second half of our episodes for subscribers only, but because of how important this
1:55.7	conversation is and because of how much my guests have sacrificed in order to educate me and all
2:01.5	of you, on the origins of a virus that has appended the lives of literally billions of people,
2:07.6	I wanted to do everything I could to share as much of their work with you as possible.
	...

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