Creating and releasing the 1918 flu virus from its published genetic data would be easier than building and detonating an atomic bomb from its design, since no rare materials like plutonium or enriched uranium are needed.
Research failed Research could not run for this claim; not scored.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
What would count as true or false
Judge on expert biosecurity and nonproliferation assessments current as of October 2005. True: expert assessments agreed that recreating and releasing the 1918 flu virus from its published sequence was easier than building and detonating a nuclear weapon from its design, partly because no plutonium or enriched uranium is needed. Mostly true: experts broadly agreed, with minor caveats. Mixed: expert opinion was split. Mostly false: the premise that no rare materials are needed is true, but experts held that the comparison was unproven or overstated, for example because synthesis required substantial tacit skill. False: expert evidence showed the virus route to be clearly harder.
Set before the research began.
Reasoning
Research or judging failed: research_plan:c_7a9059a96abe: refusal
Cite this claim
Ray Kurzweil, “Creating and releasing the 1918 flu virus from its published genetic data would be easier than building and detonating an atomic bomb from its design, since no rare materials like plutonium or enriched uranium are needed.” (said October 2005). Verdict: research failed. Reliability API, claim c_7a9059a96abe, method 0.1.0+28da144b, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_7a9059a96abe
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
Reply to this claim
More factual claims by Ray Kurzweil
-
Resolved false
“Moderna, they actually gathered several billion different possibilities for what could cause COVID.”
-
Resolved true
“The US government has a plan to actually create new vaccines within a few months to three months.”
The US government has a plan to create new vaccines within a few months to three months.
-
Mostly true
“US researchers are now testing this optimized flu vaccine on human subjects.”
As of May 2020, US researchers are testing the Flinders-optimized flu vaccine on human subjects.
-
Mostly true
“created a turbo-charged flu vaccine in part by using a biology simulator that used AI to find drugs that activate the human immune system.”
-
Resolved true
“There are promising new technologies, like RNA interference, that could be harnessed.”
Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.