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Debug Project

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Re: Debug Project

#71

Post by classichasclass »

mapcars wrote: post #60

I don't understand non-breedable part, mosquitoes are a part of a food chain as everything else, surely you don't think eliminating them will have no consequences?

Ae. aegypti is not native to California. We won't miss it.

This is addressed in their FAQ as well: "The general consensus among scientists is that the ecological impact of removing Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from urban environment would be small. They are not a significant food source for other animals and are invasive to many areas. The main ecological impact would be to restore the ecosystem to how it was before the mosquitoes invaded. Debug team is committed to working with communities and regulators to ensure the safety and acceptability of our field trials and releases."

Re: Debug Project

#72

Post by EvanAnderson »

king_zee wrote: post #5

Is this safe? I hope it doesn't affect the ecology in worse ways we won't foresee, it has happened before

Principal Skinner: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.

Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?

Principal Skinner: No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.

Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?

Principal Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.

Lisa: Then we're stuck with gorillas!

Principal Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.

Re: Debug Project

#73

Post by aboodman »

dekhn wrote: post #26
strongpigeon wrote: post #6

This is cool, but wasn't this a "Verily" project about 10 years ago? What is new here and what has happened since then?

It looks like the project has been decoupled from Verily (based on my poking about on the website) and is hosted within Google (the project lead, Linus Upson, worked for both Google and Verily simultaneously; he was mainly an eng manager/project lead, but had some historical experience with biology in school). Linus played a critical role at Google and built an awful lot of goodwill with the leadership. Linus's Linke…

Linus was my boss at Google for nearly 10 years. His main contribution was one of the key people behind Chrome. He's as good as they come.

Re: Debug Project

#74

Post by wavemode »

king_zee wrote: post #5

Is this safe? I hope it doesn't affect the ecology in worse ways we won't foresee, it has happened before

This was tested in Singapore 10 years ago and successfully reduced the spread of Dengue fever by 77% and has not negatively impacted the ecosystem.

This isn't a project to eliminate all mosquitos. There are over 3600 species of mosquito - this project is only targeting one: Aedes aegypti, which spreads many diseases, and is in fact an invasive species. Anywhere you see an Aedes aegypti outside of North Africa, it was humans who brought it there in the first place. This project is just trying to undo that.

Re: Debug Project

#75

Post by lmz »

mapcars wrote: post #60

I don't understand non-breedable part, mosquitoes are a part of a food chain as everything else, surely you don't think eliminating them will have no consequences?

It would eliminate a natural control mechanism on humans that's for sure.

Re: Debug Project

#76

Post by d-us-vb »

bob1029 wrote: post #64

I think supporting the predators of mosquitos is the better solution. We should go out of our way to avoid spraying insecticides in our lawns and other spaces. The lifecycle of the mosquito is much more rapid than that of fish, spiders, dragonflies, bats, etc. If you regularly nuke an area with insecticides, the mosquito population will have a lot less pressure to deal with.

This organization is going out of the way to avoid spraying insecticides. It seems far more effective than increasing predators because ecosystems tend to adapt to predation.

Re: Debug Project

#77

Post by hackyhacky »

nvme0n1p1 wrote: post #54
hackyhacky wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WinDbg is just a debugger: it does not assemble or disassemble. It can't patch running programs in memory. Moreover, I don't consider Windows to be part of the modern era, as I haven't used a Windows machine for 20 years. So, no, WinDbg has nothing to do with debug.com.

> I don't consider Windows to be part of the modern era, as I haven't used a Windows machine for 20 years. I don't consider France to be part of the modern world, since I haven't visited Europe lately.

A more apt analogy: I don't consider North Sentinel Island to be part of the modern world, since there is no relevant innovation going on there, it has no influence on the rest of the world, and there is nothing to be learned there.

Re: Debug Project

#78

Post by dwattttt »

hackyhacky wrote: post #37
modeless wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thus making it "a similar tool for the modern era" as you were asking for, IMO. My favorite thing about WinDbg is that many people pronounce it "Windbag".

WinDbg is just a debugger: it does not assemble or disassemble. It can't patch running programs in memory. Moreover, I don't consider Windows to be part of the modern era, as I haven't used a Windows machine for 20 years. So, no, WinDbg has nothing to do with debug.com.

Actually, I didn't even get to this part of your message, windbg absolutely can patch currently running programs. It does all the things you think it can't do.

Re: Debug Project

#79

Post by dwattttt »

hackyhacky wrote: post #77
nvme0n1p1 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't consider Windows to be part of the modern era, as I haven't used a Windows machine for 20 years. I don't consider France to be part of the modern world, since I haven't visited Europe lately.

A more apt analogy: I don't consider North Sentinel Island to be part of the modern world, since there is no relevant innovation going on there, it has no influence on the rest of the world, and there is nothing to be learned there.

You miss debug.com, wish there was an equivalent for the modern era, find out that windbg does almost all these things today, and say there's nothing of value there.

I say this as something who does all the things you described debug.com as doing, in this modern era.

Re: Debug Project

#80

Post by tonymet »

The critics have valid concerns. Verily / Google would be deploying 10-15x the local mosquito population (enough to black out the sun). The deployments are contaminated with females, as any natural product would be. And it’s possible that the mosquitos could develop Wolbachia tolerance, since mosquitos are quick to develop tolerance due to their breeding patterns and lifecycle.

Don’t be so quick to rush to a verdict. We are still living with invasives we introduced with the same good intentions.

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