In 2023 November, I helped co-judge a debate between Peter Miller and Saar Wilf on the origins of covid-19. Saar that the virus was engineered in a lab from which it accidentally escaped, while Peter held that it was of zoonotic origin with no laboratory involvement. Finally, after two months of hard work, the two judges are prepared to announce a decision: we each independently decided that Peter Miller won the debate, with high confidence. It appears that there is sufficient physical evidence to conclude that covid-19 likely first entered humans from the wild animals imported from South China in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. While the evidence of natural origin is not definitive, it is strong, and there was no significant evidence in favor of the lab leak theory.
Videos, slides, and other resources from the debate can be found at the above link, or you can go directly to my written report (pdf).
Depicted in the preview image is Dr Zhang Jixian, one of the first people to identify covid as a novel and dangerous disease.
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