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Should we kill every mosquito on Earth?
- virgildotcodes 5y agoAnyone got a better source for or against the claim the article makes that nearly half of all human deaths over the last 50,000 years were caused by malaria? It seems suspiciously high, and at a quick glance the Nature paper linked doesn’t seem to have any justification for the claim.
- jjeremycai 5y ago[flagged]
- Arbalest 5y agoThe premise is contingent that all mosquitoes are bad. Turns out there are non blood sucking mosquitos that are eaten by other things, as explained in the article. So basically: blood suckers, yes, other mosquitoes no.
- adhesive_wombat 5y agoFun fact: Anopheles (the only genus that contains malaria mosquitoes) if from the Greek for "without use".
- devoutsalsa 5y agoSome Mosquitoes are pollinators, like bees.
- GekkePrutser 5y agoMessing around with extremely complex ecosystems we don't fully understand is something that will probably backfire. But anyway this is not an achievable goal. We can't kill all mosquitoes.
- extheat 5y agoWell, mosquitos are a natural part of ecology on the planet. They've been around for long before humans. As with most other animals, mosquitos are predator to other living organisms, and that helps to keep the prey population in balance. Humans are part of their prey, and they're evolutionarily good at scenting humans out. Nobody questions our ability to wipe out human "predators" like mosquitoes, just that there is obviously a cascading ecological effect since it's not just humans they go after. On the topic of leeches to the planet: let's present the elephant in the room, the Human.
- philwelch 5y agoYou want humans to go extinct? OK, you first.
- birdyrooster 5y agoIf there was a way to guarantee that you would also go, I would do it.
- tripleSex 5y agoThis is appalling.
- birdyrooster 5y agoThis is standard brinksmanship.
- philwelch 5y agoThis is also the plot of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.
- dTal 5y agoWhat do you value, if not human life? What ethical system can possibly sustain this viewpoint?
- PretzelPirate 5y agoTaking a longer term view: I’ll be dead within 60 years and am not having children, so I guess I’m helping us go extinct.
- guilhas 5y agoIf earth could choose, would it kill every mosquito or every human? The hubris that we can casually talk about permanently change the ecosystem without consequences Mosquitoes kill mostly in developing countries, because there is no real effort to eradicate it, same as food independence. Crazy scientific experiments are not needed for it as they were not needed in for developed countries
- hypertele-Xii 5y agoLet me guess, you live in a place lacking significant mosquito populations? Where I'm from, they're not dangerous nor carry disease at all, but they're everywhere and incredibly painful and annoying to deal with. I will not have my enjoyment of a short summer following a long, dark, and cold winter be ruined by these absolute pests. Annihilate every last blood-sucking bug, I say.
- parski 5y agoShould we kill every human on Earth?
- mrlonglong 5y agoI say no. There are animals or birds that may depend on them as a food source. The next best thing to do is to find a way of ridding mossies of the malaria parasites.