6 ms·

i always thought that domesticating insects would be a great boon for humanity. and/or, why did we stop at honeybees and silk-worms? termites for bio-reclamati

i always thought that domesticating insects would be a great boon for humanity. and/or, why did we stop at honeybees and silk-worms? termites for bio-reclamation, locusts for invasive plant control, dragonflies for extermination of mosquitoes, cockroaches for subterranean telemetry.. (probably avoiding preying-mantises out of a sense of 'what could possibly go wrong?')

twic 11y ago
> probably avoiding preying-mantises out of a sense of 'what could possibly go wrong?' It's not like ants have a completely clean record there either: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuhgBvOWb_k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuhgBvOWb_k
- theophrastus 11y ago
  absolutely; any arthropod that was featured in a horror film (which admittedly covers a lot of ground;'them, it, she, and, the blob' (yes yes most of those aren't arthropods))
michaelmior 11y ago
Not often I get the chance to make a Magic School Bus reference: https://youtu.be/vlnmIx37ZMg?t=939 https://youtu.be/vlnmIx37ZMg?t=939
tuxidomasx 11y ago
Not to mention using insects as food sources-- grasshoppers, crickets, worms, etc. Excellent sources for protein and super efficient to raise pound-for-pound. I guess the biggest obstacles are the cultural ones.
- TheGrassyKnoll 11y ago
  http://chapul.com/why-eat-crickets http://chapul.com/why-eat-crickets
- SixSigma 11y ago
  Edward O Wilson also suggested farming reptiles for meat in his famous book "Biodiversity" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson
Terr_ 11y ago
> probably avoiding preying-mantises What about just using their DNA? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1_aKPIdnU&t=0m20s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1_aKPIdnU&t=0m20s