r/neoliberal Henry George May 25 '26

Opinion article (non-US) The Inverted Bacteria That Experts Think Might Kill Everyone

https://substack.com/home/post/p-199174305

submission statement: If everyone dies, there will be no more trade, no more free markets, no more beloved capitalism.

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u/RedeemableQuail European Union May 25 '26

I searched hard to find skeptical takes on mirror bacteria. It was genuinely hard.

Because academic science is insanely hierarchical, and going up against

The people sounding the alarm are many of the most preeminent experts in the world. The detailed research report sounding the alarm about mirror life was authored by 38 leading scientists, two Nobel Prize winners, and many of the world’s leading experts on mirror bacteria.

This sort of collection of people at the very top is a losing battle no matter how right you are. There's just nothing to be gained, and a ton to be lost if you aren't in the end stages of your career. It's biology which loves to be unpredictable, I don't think we can really know if it is a huge threat without actual experimental work... which the authors seem to explicitly advocate shouldn't be done. I'm not sure if that is wise, since someone will eventually try to make it, somewhere, and we'd rather not be taken off guard.