this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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Breadtube if it didn't suck.

Post videos you genuinely enjoy and want to share, duh. Celebrate the diversity of interests shared by chapochatters by posting a deep dive into Venetian kelp farming, I dunno. Also media criticism, bite-sized versions of left-wing theory, all the stuff you expected. But I am curious about that kelp farming thing now that you mentioned it.

Low effort / spam videos might be removed, especially weeb content.

There is a cytube that you can paste videos into and watch with whoever happens to be around. It's open submission unless there's something important to commandeer it with at the time.

A weekly watch party happens every Saturday (Sunday down under), with video nominations Saturday-Monday, voting Monday-Thursday. See the pin for whatever stage it's currently in.

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Maybe I'm too cynical, but that's what I got from it. The video way overstates the ease of DIY viral research and understates how tightly regulated it already is.

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[–] Dalek@hexbear.net 33 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Its surprisingly easy to build bioweapons. All you need is a million quid electron microscope, the same extremely reliable refrigeration and warming tech the labs use at 200k each, and need a licence to buy the other raw materials.

[–] D3FNC@hexbear.net 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This is manifestly not true. Genetic engineering a bioweapon is not the only way to make it.

You can start with a known agent and use cultures or hosts to select for virulence, and you would be able to get surprisingly far. Just ask Japan.

[–] Dalek@hexbear.net 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I never mentioned genetics. I mentioned how cultures are needed to be stored for it to work. If you look even at the ramshackle approach 1970s Japanese terrorists used - that still cost them a coupla million dollars worth to make it happen. Ricin was cheaper for them to work with and ended up having the results they'd wanted.

[–] D3FNC@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago

Not quite the reference I had in mind.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

A few million dollars is nothing in comparison to the effect releasing a weaponized agent would cause. There is a reason why the United States is the only country lawless enough to allow biowarfare research to continue. I maintain that you would not even need that much money if you weren't too picky about the final product. You could Tiger King your way to a meth lab grade bioweapon for 100k.

If Gregor Mendel could do it, nearly anyone with lab experience could do the same with yersinia taken from your friendly neighborhood Prairie dog. Or a state level actor could go to the ivory coast.