Everybody’s got a plan, until they get hit in the face.
Mike Tyson
The question over Gain of Function research has been a hot potato for years, but with the outbreak of covid, it has now gone nuclear. The high level argument over the exact definition of GoF, whether it is strictly gene insertion, or if serial passage also counts, and whether the virus exists in humans or animals, and what the intended outcome of the procedure is, all seem moot in the face of where we now stand. If you accept the premise that covid could be a manufactured virus, and not escaped from the wild, then you may appreciate our term of art, Gain of Malfunction.