Now (after all the COVID-19 related discourse in the media), it indeed seems a lot less risky to mention GoF research. (You could have made the point that “GoF research is already happening” prior to COVID-19; but perhaps a very small fraction of people then were aware that GoF research was a thing, making it riskier to mention).
I agree probably only a small fraction of people were aware that GoF research was a thing until recently. I would assume that fraction included most of the people who were capable of acting on the knowledge. (That is, the question isn’t “what fraction of people know about GoF research” but “what fraction of people who are plausibly capable of causing GoF research to happen know about it”.) But maybe that depends on the specific way you think it’s hazardous .
Now (after all the COVID-19 related discourse in the media), it indeed seems a lot less risky to mention GoF research. (You could have made the point that “GoF research is already happening” prior to COVID-19; but perhaps a very small fraction of people then were aware that GoF research was a thing, making it riskier to mention).
I agree probably only a small fraction of people were aware that GoF research was a thing until recently. I would assume that fraction included most of the people who were capable of acting on the knowledge. (That is, the question isn’t “what fraction of people know about GoF research” but “what fraction of people who are plausibly capable of causing GoF research to happen know about it”.) But maybe that depends on the specific way you think it’s hazardous .