1367: Annie Jacobsen | The Genes and Germs of Biological Warfare
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What does the episode reveal about the Soviet bioweapons program after the Cold War?
Coming up next on
the Jordan Harbinger Show. The revelation is the Soviet program was not dismantled when the wall went down, but rather absorbed. They signed the treaty, they crossed their fingers, their hands behind their back and say, Oh yeah, we're definitely on board. No biological weapons. And what do they do? They begin a colossal illegal. biological weapons program involving genetic modifications and among the weapons was the super plague weapon that was designed to kill Tens of millions or hundreds of millions of their enemies in the West.
Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger. On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you. Our mission is to help you become a better informed, more critical thinker through long form conversations with a variety of amazing folks, from spies to CEOs, athletes to authors, thinkers, and performers, even the occasional neuroscientist, war correspondent, former G head. Or hostage negotiator. If you're new to the show or you want to tell your friends about the show, I suggest our episode starter packs. These are collections of some of our favorite episodes on topics like persuasion and negotiation, psychology and geopolitics, disinformation, China, North Korea, crime and cults, and more.
That'll help new listeners get a taste of everything we do here on the show. Just visit JordanHarbinger.com/slash start or search for us in your Spotify app to get started. Today's guest, asks us to imagine an American walking into a packed Frankfurt nightclub with 102 degree fever. He should feel like death. Instead, he feels euphoric, because the plague multiplying in his lungs has been genetically engineered to make him want to socialize. He dances until dawn, then he boards a flight to Dallas with 400 plus other people. Andy Jacobson's new book is not about a bomb that explodes once. It's about a living weapon that copies itself, travels through our airports, exploits our compassion and attacks not only our bodies, but our trust in medicine, the government, and in one another.
How much of this nightmare is documented history? How much of it is plausible extrapolation? And what can be done before the clock runs out? Here we go with Annie Jacobson. This book is actually quite scary. Nuclear war was scary because everybody dies, but this is scarier because everybody dies, but also way more gruesomely and it takes longer.
You know, nuclear war is in that book I take the readers from nuclear launch to nuclear winter in seventy two minutes. In this book, I take the readers from outbreak to anarchy in six days. So it seems like a long time, relatively speaking, but that's super fast. But as you learn, what happens after day six is really distressing.
That's the scariest part. Look, dying of a horrible disease is pretty bad, but watching all of your friends and family get dragged into the street and killed because you have creamed corn in your basement is scarier somehow. Like with nuclear war, you just go, I want to be one of the first people to die, not one of the last people to die.
I haven't thought about creamed corn in a while. Now I'm not going to be able to get that visual out of my head.
So take us into that Frankfurt nightclub. There's an American, he's on the dance floor, he's got a little bit of a fever. Guy should be home in bed, but he feels great. So what has been done to this pathogen and why might this euphoria be one of its most diabolical features?
Yes. For spoiler alert, the the Prologue of the book begins a couple days into the scenario. The scenario begins with an accident and a lab leak. But the prologue shows us what happens, that terrifying process of transmission. of infecting other people of a superspreader event. And specifically you're asking about why someone infected with mnemonic plague. would be experiencing euphoria. And that is one of the most terrifying science facts I learned.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What does the episode reveal about the Soviet bioweapons program after the Cold War?
0:00–6:57
2
How is the engineered plague scenario illustrated with the Frankfurt nightclub story?
6:57–12:31
3
Why are biological weapons considered a greater overall threat than nuclear weapons?
12:31–51:47
4
Why are people scared of gain‑of‑function research and how could it lead to a pandemic?
51:47–1:05:44
5
What really happened in the 2019 Vector laboratory explosion and why does it matter?
1:05:44–1:19:31
6
How safe are BSL‑3 and BSL‑4 labs worldwide and why do many lack proper standards?
1:19:31–1:34:00
7
What should governments do now to stop AI‑enabled biological weapons from becoming a reality?
1:34:00–1:47:43
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Jordan Harbinger Show
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