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Comment by ecf | Hacker News Reader

China wanting to have billions upon billions of citizens means it’s only right for them to own up to the occasions when those billions of people cause billions or trillions worth of economic damages to the entire world.

Like it or not, if it’s Chinas fault then they should be forced to pay reparations. At the very least held accountable and change the circumstances that led to them breeding the virus.

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Genuinely interested to know under what circumstances you envisage China being 'forced' to do anything. Held accountable means nothing here, and paying reparations is for the weak op cit History.

War? Pretty simple. Either they willingly pay reparations if they’re responsible or the world takes it from them.

How many billions in economic damage and millions in lives would that take? I mean I get the desire to see people and countries held responsible for things, but at a certain point you have to ask what the cost you're willing to pay to make that happen is.

I am not a religious person in general, but I do sometimes wonder if society as a whole isn't losing something valuable in the declining beliefs in a cosmic balancing even if a secular balancing can't occur. Whether that's karma or judgement day, there's a lot of anger floating about these days about wrongs that are just realistically too costly to address, that in other belief systems would at least be assuaged by the belief that they would be addressed in the after life.

Yeah, that's brilliant. Clearly tons of appetite for that. No chance.

Populations around the world would force their governments hand If it comes out that China knew they were responsible while blocking every single meaningful investigation into the root cause.

1) No they wouldn't

2) If they would, then this would be a very good reason not to investigate further

I don't think China is going to take kindly to a 2nd century of humiliation.

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

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