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It's a silly argument IMO. There are so many mosquito species we don't care about, and so many other small insects that provide similar food, that eliminating t
by andrewflnr 2y ago
It's a silly argument IMO. There are so many mosquito species we don't care about, and so many other small insects that provide similar food, that eliminating the handful of species that literally kill humans would barely cause a blip in the food chain.
- darth_avocado 2y agoNot at all a silly argument. The human species is extremely bad at understanding the delicate balance the nature is in and extremely bad at estimating how much we know about nature. We don’t even know all the insect species that exist, yet we are comfortable telling others that they will find other similar food. It’s the kind of confidence aliens would have observing humans eating lettuce and assuming we’d be fine with grazing grass if they take all the leafy vegetables away.
- andrewflnr 2y agoI think you're still missing the distinction between "all mosquitoes" and "harmful mosquitoes". I don't think anyone is serious about eliminating mosquitoes that don't feed on humans at all, for instance. What's being proposed is more analogous to aliens eliminating particular types of lettuce because they have a lethal allergy. We would in fact be fine in this scenario, precisely because there are still other kinds of lettuce and other leafy greens. We might not like it, but we would be fine. I get the impression that the kinds of animals that eat mosquitoes are less picky, more in the "if it fits in my face, om nom nom" end of the spectrum.