Retrotransposon expert, Dr. Jef D. Boeke of Johns Hopkins was kind enough to give me a few minutes of phone time. He made it very clear that he, like Dr. Jardetsky, thought I was completely wrong regarding the meiotic origin of HIV. And I myself know that I could be wrong. But, at this point, I�m not yet convinced of that.
Microbiologists are a band of brothers and sisters. They are perhaps not a tightly knit organization with life-or-death loyalty bonding like the Marine Corps or a group of political nonconformists in the former Soviet Union.
But there is among microbiologists a degree of organization and therefore a degree of constraint. That constraint manifests itself as a certain loyalty to one�s colleagues and an unwillingness to be overly critical.
I�m not a part of that organization myself, so I have more freedom to criticize. And I should say also that my hypothesis regarding meiosis and anal intercourse was formed only after reading a great number of papers about AIDS. In a sense, I am only trying to find a way of thinking that was consistent with the generality of information gleaned from those papers. Surely those who are publishing research regarding viruses and HIV would like to see their work have effect outside their profession and in the broader world.
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