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Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

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Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#211

Post by sportanova »

MrArtichaut wrote: post #136

I'm the only one not comfortable with the idea of wiping whole species just because we don't like them? I mean, I'm far fromthe Gaia thing, but what rights do we have to do that? And next? Rats, cockroaches? Hey, this specie of birds doesn't do anything useful and eat our fruits, why not killing them all? Mosquitoes aren't even "responsible" for those diseases... Maybe we should invest in proactive body defenses agai…

> Instead of just killing random things

There's nothing random about it, they're the transmitters.

Should we also be against antibiotics? It's just random bacteria.

> Nature evolves. Other mosquitoes and viruses will come

Guess we should have left polio to it's own ends. And all vaccines are disrupting the natural order of things. Best not worry about any of it because there will always be another disease

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#212

Post by wodenokoto »

nradov wrote: post #202
bduerst wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The difference is that invasive species are considered harmful to the ecosystem while naturally spread species are considered part of the ecosystem.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#213

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

qb45 wrote: post #207
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There's a fun little Roman bedtime story about a determined man who cuts down an important god's favorite forest for firewood and is cursed with insatiable hunger that eventually drives him to sell all of his possessions and even his daughter into slavery before he eats himself to death.

Needless to say, people were a threat to forests long before industrialization.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#214

Post by justsaysmthng »

I'm a vegetarian for spiritual reasons and also because I don't agree with causing suffering to other species.

If there's a fly in my room, buzzing on the window, I would open the window and let it fly away. If there's a big ant or a spider or a bee on my foot, I'd wait for it to explore me and then go on its way (although I'm scared of spiders and allergic to bee stings).

But even a hardcore flower sniffing fly kissing hippy like myself has his limit. And that limit is called The Mosquito.

I've sent so many bad vibes towards this species that they'd stopped biting me years ago. Even so, I still hate them for the sleepless nights and for the crazy, bad, aggressive thoughts that they've spawned inside my mind with their evil buzz.

One of the worst things about them is that it takes just one slap - 50 ms - to transform a living, buzzing mosquito into a bloody spot on the wall. They don't even have time to understand wtf has happened to them !

One moment she's like "Yeah! Who I should suck next?!" and next moment she's mush.

No pain, no regrets, no suffering. Nothing !

Yet I have to live with the memory of the suffering it has caused me my entire life.

Maybe we should design mosquitoes with more advanced nervous systems - optimized for feeling pain and suffering - and make their bodies more resistant and stronger, so that humans can torture them properly.

This "let's interbreed them with sterile males" sounds like a really soft and humane (?) punishment - give them lab grown mosquito studs so that those bloodsucking bitches can have a good sex life ? What kind of revenge is that ?

No! They must suffer !

Oh my, you see what thoughts they've spawned in me ? Otherwise, I'm pretty peaceful..

/humor

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#215

Post by bryanlarsen »

joekrill wrote: post #160
bryanlarsen wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst man-made ecological disasters in history caused tens of thousands of deaths. We can say with certainty that killing off a few species of mosquitoes will not be worse.

You're suggesting that because it's never happened before (that we know of), we can say with _certainty_ it won't happen in the future? Can we go back 100 years and say that about climate change please?

1 million is a really big number, which is what makes the certainty easy. That's even bigger than projected deaths from climate change.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#216

Post by ajuc »

wodenokoto wrote: post #212
nradov wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The difference is that invasive species are considered harmful to the ecosystem while naturally spread species are considered part of the ecosystem.

Native species are just an invasive species 10 000 years later.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#217

Post by krapp »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #194

Evolution requires the human population to go through epidemics in order to get stronger. Unfortunately what is best for the planet and species is not always the best for individual humans.

Don't fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing evolution. It doesn't "require" anything, it certainly isn't sending epidemics to help us "get stronger", and it really doesn't "care" whether anything lives or dies.

People thought the bubonic plague and cholera were God's will up until the germ theory of disease was discovered, happy to pray and cast spells while wallowing in their own feces in flea-bitten squalor, and that's not much different (or much more rational) than arguing that epidemics should be accepted because they're "evolution's will." Believing that nature has a plan only causes unnecessary suffering. Nature no more has a plan than does the dust in a dust storm.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#218

Post by praxulus »

ajuc wrote: post #216
wodenokoto wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that invasive species are considered harmful to the ecosystem while naturally spread species are considered part of the ecosystem.

Native species are just an invasive species 10 000 years later.

Ok, so in the year 11950 we can have a debate about whether or not a species has been around long enough to be considered native. Right now, they're still invasive.

Re: Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes

#220

Post by iamdave »

GrinningFool wrote: post #171
labster wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Bell_scandal came to mind in less than 5 seconds; I'm sure there are many others.

That's a case of corrupt officials using funds to pay themselves more money and other misuses not in the interests of the city. This isn't in the same category as using funds inappropriately for something that is in the interests of taxpayers.

I don't think those two statements invalidate each other.
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