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I was really hoping that this was sarcasm, but from replies i see that lots of people take it seriously. Wow, i'm shocked, hope we never will have such ability

I was really hoping that this was sarcasm, but from replies i see that lots of people take it seriously. Wow, i'm shocked, hope we never will have such ability to eliminate a species on demand when someone got annoyed during camping, without even thinking about the consequences of such action and alternatives how desired outcome could be achieved.

baxtr 6y ago
AFAIK, mosquitos are the animals that take the most human lives per annum. It is not only about "getting annoyed" during camping. EDIT, I found a source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_h...
- alfanick 6y ago
  Let's have humans evolve instead of killing things that were here before us.
  - Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
    Natural history is full of examples of "lets kill things that were here before us". So your argument can't be a reference and a call to a natural state of being. What is it about then?
  - refurb 6y ago
    You’re against killing the plague? That’s silly.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
      I'm trying to remember where I read it, but someone once penned an article, crying about the crime of exterminating smallpox. They were serious about it, too. I wouldn't worry. I'm sure that both Russia and the US have some saved up...just in case.
      - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
        There's a few people out there like that. Like giving sight or hearing back to people who lost it (especially at a young age). Martyrdom-by-proxy?
  - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    Ah yes, eugenics. Worked great for the US' native population.
- vincnetas 6y ago
  But if you split by country, you'll see that there were 0 people killed by malaria in Europe and 500 in both Americas (2015). Do you still think that we should kill all mosquitoes in the world? https://ourworldindata.org/malaria https://ourworldindata.org/malaria EDIT: haha, and the second most deadly animal from wiki list on earth is .... human. Should we get rid of these "pests" too? Could help with climate change also.
  - baxtr 6y ago
    I did not say we should kill them all. I just contested your camping statement.
  - chr1 6y ago
    There are 0 people killed in Europe because we killed all malaria mosquitos with DDT and by draining swamps. Gene drive is a much more humane method in comparison.
    - vincnetas 6y ago
      Yes but suggestion of original poster was to kill all mosquitos without even mentioning anything about malaria. My comment was to point out that such blanket approach is terrifying. Now that we digging in to details we see that when we look deeper in to problem we don't need to kill "all mosquitos" apparently.
  - finiteseries 6y ago
    Absolutely. ~10 species of mosquito vs the entire continent of Africa and all of the lives within it? That’s not even an actual choice, it’s just “yes”. I choose humans.
    - throwaway2245 6y ago
      The choice which you are eliding is: eliminate malaria by killing all mosquitos; or, eliminate malaria's harmful effects on humans by implementing existing prevention methods which do not require that.
- psychoslave 6y ago
  Mosquitoes rarely themselves kill humans. They are most of the time simply the vector of what kill humans. Actually, checking it, the Wikipedia article do state it clearly : "Mosquitoes do not kill humans directly. Rather, they are a vector that transmits mosquito-borne diseases". You might consider "don’t shoot the messenger" should apply here too.
  - HenryKissinger 6y ago
    > Mosquitoes rarely themselves kill humans. They are most of the time simply the vector of what kill humans. This is mental gymnastics. Mosquitoes kill humans.
    - pcthrowaway 6y ago
      It's not the assassin that kills, it's the knife /s
      - psychoslave 6y ago
        Would you say that mosquitoes are aiming at killing humans using viruses then?
  - archerx 6y ago
    Hmmmm, let me try something... Guns rarely themselves kill humans. They are most of the time simply the vector of what kill humans. Actually, checking it, the Wikipedia article do state it clearly : "Guns do not kill humans directly. Rather, they are a vector that transmits bullets".
    - psychoslave 6y ago
      Guns are the tools used to kill humans, yes. You will notice that guns don’t appear on the linked page, while humans do.
  - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    The coronavirus doesn't kill people, it's their own organs shutting down that kills them. Honestly did you spend more than half a second thinking before you typed this reply? You don't need to be a "well ackchyually" pedant on the internet all the time.
chr1 6y ago
We almost have a method that can work on almost any insect, https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4245 https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4245 and we should definitely apply it to most mosquitos, and many agricultural pests especially in cases when it is an invasive species transported by us from continent to continent. Tzetze, kissing bugs, ticks also need to be eliminated though sadly we do not have a working method for ticks yet.
Chris2048 6y ago
Was it wrong to (near) eliminate smallpox too?
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  "evolutionary" humanism would say so. Mind you, the Nazis were followers of this branch of humanism so take from that what you will.

baxtr 6y ago

AFAIK, mosquitos are the animals that take the most human lives per annum. It is not only about "getting annoyed" during camping. EDIT, I found a source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_animals_to_h...

alfanick 6y ago
Let's have humans evolve instead of killing things that were here before us.
- Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
  Natural history is full of examples of "lets kill things that were here before us". So your argument can't be a reference and a call to a natural state of being. What is it about then?
- refurb 6y ago
  You’re against killing the plague? That’s silly.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
    I'm trying to remember where I read it, but someone once penned an article, crying about the crime of exterminating smallpox. They were serious about it, too. I wouldn't worry. I'm sure that both Russia and the US have some saved up...just in case.
    - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
      There's a few people out there like that. Like giving sight or hearing back to people who lost it (especially at a young age). Martyrdom-by-proxy?
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  Ah yes, eugenics. Worked great for the US' native population.
vincnetas 6y ago
But if you split by country, you'll see that there were 0 people killed by malaria in Europe and 500 in both Americas (2015). Do you still think that we should kill all mosquitoes in the world? https://ourworldindata.org/malaria https://ourworldindata.org/malaria EDIT: haha, and the second most deadly animal from wiki list on earth is .... human. Should we get rid of these "pests" too? Could help with climate change also.
- baxtr 6y ago
  I did not say we should kill them all. I just contested your camping statement.
- chr1 6y ago
  There are 0 people killed in Europe because we killed all malaria mosquitos with DDT and by draining swamps. Gene drive is a much more humane method in comparison.
  - vincnetas 6y ago
    Yes but suggestion of original poster was to kill all mosquitos without even mentioning anything about malaria. My comment was to point out that such blanket approach is terrifying. Now that we digging in to details we see that when we look deeper in to problem we don't need to kill "all mosquitos" apparently.
- finiteseries 6y ago
  Absolutely. ~10 species of mosquito vs the entire continent of Africa and all of the lives within it? That’s not even an actual choice, it’s just “yes”. I choose humans.
  - throwaway2245 6y ago
    The choice which you are eliding is: eliminate malaria by killing all mosquitos; or, eliminate malaria's harmful effects on humans by implementing existing prevention methods which do not require that.
psychoslave 6y ago
Mosquitoes rarely themselves kill humans. They are most of the time simply the vector of what kill humans. Actually, checking it, the Wikipedia article do state it clearly : "Mosquitoes do not kill humans directly. Rather, they are a vector that transmits mosquito-borne diseases". You might consider "don’t shoot the messenger" should apply here too.
- HenryKissinger 6y ago
  > Mosquitoes rarely themselves kill humans. They are most of the time simply the vector of what kill humans. This is mental gymnastics. Mosquitoes kill humans.
  - pcthrowaway 6y ago
    It's not the assassin that kills, it's the knife /s
    - psychoslave 6y ago
      Would you say that mosquitoes are aiming at killing humans using viruses then?
- archerx 6y ago
  Hmmmm, let me try something... Guns rarely themselves kill humans. They are most of the time simply the vector of what kill humans. Actually, checking it, the Wikipedia article do state it clearly : "Guns do not kill humans directly. Rather, they are a vector that transmits bullets".
  - psychoslave 6y ago
    Guns are the tools used to kill humans, yes. You will notice that guns don’t appear on the linked page, while humans do.
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  The coronavirus doesn't kill people, it's their own organs shutting down that kills them. Honestly did you spend more than half a second thinking before you typed this reply? You don't need to be a "well ackchyually" pedant on the internet all the time.

chr1 6y ago

We almost have a method that can work on almost any insect, https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4245 https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4245 and we should definitely apply it to most mosquitos, and many agricultural pests especially in cases when it is an invasive species transported by us from continent to continent. Tzetze, kissing bugs, ticks also need to be eliminated though sadly we do not have a working method for ticks yet.

Chris2048 6y ago

Was it wrong to (near) eliminate smallpox too?

Cthulhu_ 6y ago
"evolutionary" humanism would say so. Mind you, the Nazis were followers of this branch of humanism so take from that what you will.