Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes • Hacker News Board

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#201

Post by coryrc » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:46 PM UTC

ommunist wrote: post #65

llamaimperative wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but that isn't even the million dollar question because the answer will never be "yes." The real question is how certain do we have to be about their role before we decide the gamble is worth it? In this thread you see wealthy westerners complaining that mosquitos are a nuisance. In many parts of the world they are holocaust-scale killers. It gets to an age old question re: the precautionary principle, and a lot…

This is much more than a million dollar question. I know local economies depending on mosquito larvae winter haul. They sell those to fishermen. Fish populations depends on mosquito larvae in many lake and river ecosystems.

Millions of lives are more important than a few "local economies".

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#202

Post by nradov » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:46 PM UTC

bduerst wrote: post #78

alwaysdoit wrote: post #38

We've done this lots[1] of[2] times[3] when it threatens agriculture, but when it threatens the lives of poor people in third world countries, suddenly we're worried about the ecosystem? There will be an environmental impact, but it will be from hundreds of millions of humans not getting malaria and climbing their way out of property, not from the lack of mosquitoes in the ecosystem. It's still a significant problem,…

It's not really an apples to apples comparison. All of those are invasive species, except for the screw fly, which isn't a large part of a biological ecosystem (e.g. a sizeable portion of the Myotis lucifugus diet).

In principle why should it matter whether a particular species is native or invasive? Regardless of whether a particular species spread to an area naturally or were introduced by humans we have to deal with them as they exist today. And certainly some mosquito species are invasive to the areas where they live now.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#203

Post by sportanova » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:47 PM UTC

SimpleXYZ wrote: post #149

hibikir wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mosquitos aren't about unpleasantness though: It is a vector for deadly disease in the tropics. We are talking hundreds of thousands of deaths a year. Now, getting rid of all of them might not be the smartest idea: it carries plenty of risk, but to say that they are just unpleasant is a major understatement.

Exactly, we are talking about millions of people if you go back a few thousand years.

Millions of people if you go back a few years

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#204

Post by blisterpeanuts » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:47 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #3

Sounds good, but afaik only a few mosquito species actually are spreaders of diseases affecting humans. I suppose I don't know if those pathogens can mutate to use other mosquitoes as hosts. While we're at it, get rid of ticks.

and botflies, no-see-ums, and black flies.

I hate those bastards. I don't care if it causes an eco-catastrophe. Just don't want to be bitten anymore.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#205

Post by Nadya » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:51 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #196

James001 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main problem is how do we actually eradicate mosquito's without introducing other severely risks? For example, one of the popular techniques is releasing genetically modified mosquitoes that are sterile. The problem is we don't know what could happen if/when these modified genes spread into the wider environment It's a very serious concern, whether or not eradicating mosquitoes will introduce more severe problems

How do sterile mosquitos spread their genes? (Genuine question! I don't know what the risk is)

Ambiguity strikes again! (I was as puzzled as you are, but I think I figured it out)

The problem is we don't know what happens after/when we introduce those genes into the environment. Humans are spreading the gene by releasing the modified mosquitoes - not them having offspring.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#206

Post by sportanova » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:52 PM UTC

ElijahLynn wrote: post #199

sirtastic wrote: post #168

Why do people think it's a good idea to kill off an insect that's a food source to thousands of other insects and animals?

Truth. Most of the comments here made me realize that a significant amount of HN readers are less intelligent than I thought.

Yeah, as long as it's poor black people and South Americans who cares?

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#207

Post by qb45 » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:53 PM UTC

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #174

qb45 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The meaning to you or the meaning to the ancient? If the latter, I'm not sure if people back then were so megalomaniac to consider being useful to humans as an advantage. The world was much less developed before steam engines gave us craploads of energy for free.

I'm pretty sure that people back then were rather clear on the idea that if something you put in the ground makes food and seeds you're gonna want to keep the seeds to make more.

But then you become a slave of those pesky humans and their whims, while trees grow freely in forests where they didn't face much danger from humans before the industrial revolution.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#208

Post by lucaspiller » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:53 PM UTC

robert_nsu wrote: post #93

TheCondor wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't things eat mosquitos? Do any of those things matter?

Dragonflies eat mosquitos. I happen to like dragonflies. The are one of the non-annoying insects I actually like to have in my (non) backyard. edit: http://www.chron.com/life/gardening/article/Dragonflies-Moth...

In the UK we don't have human-biting mosquitos, yet we still have plenty of dragonflies.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#209

Post by huherto » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:54 PM UTC

Avshalom wrote: post #106

maaku wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those eradications were paid for by the Department of Agriculture (and equivalent organizations in other regions). Who is going to pay for the mosquito? I'm not objecting. I think we should eradicate the mosquito. But as someone who has worked for the government (albeit a different branch) I know that bureaucrats are not being evil or heartless when they don't allocate funds for necessary work that falls outside of t…

As an Alaskan AND a Floridian: If they wanna auction/raffle off the privilege of throwing the switch I would attempt to give them all my money.

That is actually a really good idea. A national lottery to decide who presses the switch. Lots of people will enter.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#210

Post by soundwave106 » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 7:55 PM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #79

lucideer wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could easily be framed as a misattribution of cause though. Mosquitos occur world-wide, and even flourish in many climates where rates of infection from mosquito-borne diseases are relatively low. As an example, 90% of deaths from Malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and even there, the likelihood of death from infection is radically lower for western visitors than for locals. These diseases are largely a result…

So we get as many cases of malaria in Europe, just nobody dies from it? Or maybe it does indeed has something to do with mosquitos after all?

The WHO recently declared Europe "malaria free". http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-europe-malaria-idUKK...

It seems that at least some of the reason why malaria is so prevalent in sub-Sahara Africa has to do with poor housing, poor management of drainage / sewers, and poor roads.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtm/2012/819563/

I'm not ruling out eliminating mosquitoes per se, but the United States and Europe managed to largely eliminate malaria in the 1930s-1940s without eliminating mosquitoes. So before I'd start advocating the elimination of entire subsets of species, I'd ask how the US and Europe were successful in their efforts, and wonder why we can't apply those lessons to the rest of the world. Maybe the money spent in targeting the elimination of mosquitoes (which cause a lot of problems) would be better spent in general health and sanitation (the lack of which also causes a lot of problems), for instance.