2mo ago

Horrors We've Unleashed

216 comments

Mosquitoes have killed more humans than every disease ever (edit: when you obviously exclude malaria) along with every war ever, combined.
Fuck those little shits. Let them all die, it will literally change nothing on this planet because nothing solely survives off predation on mosquitoes or their larvae.
- But what will happen when the humans lose their natural predators, we might destroy our habita- ah, right. Nevermind
  
  Mosquitos are just trying to save the planet by murdering as many humans as possible
  
  Here's a Venn diagram:
  O Humans getting killed by mosquitos
  O Humans at fault for habitat destruction
- If those creatures that also eat mosquitoes cannot eat them anymore, that means they would have to eat other bugs more frequently, and possibly fucking up all the ecosystem.
  That said, fuck mosquitoes, they can take blood from other places.
  
  All of our best data on the impact says that it really wouldn't matter. Sometimes a species is a linchpin for the ecosystem, and sometimes it isn't.
  Sucks for mosquitoes, but there's a very real chance that we'll smallpox them, and the biggest concern will be our confidence that the virus we use doesn't impact other species unintentionally.
  
  They're largely applying this technique to invasive species of mosquitoes, eg Aedes aegypti, which is a potent vector of disease and native of Africa that has spread worldwide only within the past 200 years
  
  They also eat nectar and are pollinators of various plants.
  There's no way we could simply remove a creature as numerous and widespread as mosquitoes without any consequences.
  
  If we were to somehow magically remove mosquitos from existence in an instant, we'd better hope something fills their ecological niche quickly
  
  Found the mosquito.
- I understand what you're saying here, but the set of people killed by "every disease ever" includes the entire set of people killed by mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquitoes can't have killed more people than every disease ever because mosquitoes' kill count is part of every disease ever.
  
  Edit: when excluding malaria.
- Mosquitoes have killed more humans than every disease ever
  How do they kill us outside of spreading disease?
  
  They manipulate the weather using space lasers from their fake hollow moon above our flat earth.
  
  By distracting drivers into causing accidents? Statistically speaking... probably.

I would not want to see things like this done to the overwhelming majority of living things. But mosquitoes, I say let them starve.
- ticks, too
  
  Most dangerous animal in our forests
- Isn't the blood only needed for procreation?
  
  Yes. Some (not all species) female mosquitoes drink blood for the protein, which they need for egg production. Their actual diet is nectar from flowers.
- I mean, I hate mosquitoes as much as the next guy, but that sounds like a great way to destroy whole ecosystems that rely on mosquitoes as a food source.
  
  But keep in mind there are a lot of invasive populations of mosquitoes and some of them are disease carrying species. Since they're invasive, by definition they're not vital to the natural ecosystem and those populations could be safely wiped out.
  
  Of all the creatures big and small we've driven extinct, mosquitoes will not likely be the one that breaks the camel's back.

I know it's not that deep but if you type a whole ass paragraph in all caps I want to beat you with a shoe.
- 👏 THANK 👏 YOU 👏
  
  👟
- what about all lowercase? is that fine to you? do you just want to easily ignore me? am i small potatoes to you?
  
  nah, ricky, you're no potatoes at all. 🔫
  
  Your words may be small, but your place in my life isn't. i feel you, dog.
- I KNOW. It’s like PICK your BATTLES people

This is a crime against nature and god and decency, and mosquitos are probably the only place I'd be absolutely, completely for it.
- There are probably a few handfuls of other parasites that would count too.
  
  Yeah, do ticks next!
  
  Fuck bedbugs!
- Animal farming is a crime against nature, god and decency and we’re completely for that too, don’t forget

Ok but mosquitoes historically are the #1 killers of humans, by an order of magnitude. This could be argued as a form of evolution. We simply engineered them out as a threat. GG get gud scrub, see you in 3 million years when you have your own AI generated bioengineering.
- Ok but mosquitoes historically are the #1 killers of humans, by an order of magnitude
  Homo sapien: am I a joke to you?
  
  According to google, yeah. Mosquito-borne diseases are responsible for 52 billion deaths. I was extremely surprised myself.
  
  I'm pretty sure over history mosquitoes have killed far more people than people have.

Up next on Info Wars: "They're turning the mosquitoes gay!"

Tbh I wouldn’t be sad if we genetically modified mosquitoes to breed them out of existence like we’ve done with screw worm.
- My only problem with it is the fact that you're taking a major insect class out of the ecosystem and later on down the line it might have serious implications. There will never be enough research on the effects of it until it's too late to reverse. I hate mosquitoes (I live in Southern LA.) but I don't think this is the answer.
  
  I think there was a campaign in china in the mid 20th century that tried to exterminate a bunch of pests like this and it lead to catastrophic famines or something.
  "The Four Evils Campaign" I think it was called.
- I think it's a genius solution to the explicit problem, but a terrible solution in a larger scope. There are many animals that feed on mosquitos, and they would suffer from massive decreases in mosquito population. This includes birds, frogs, bats, fish, and other insects (many aquatic animals eat mosquito larvae). I would hate to see a cascading reduction in animal populations as a result of these tactics.
  
  I get the concern, and it's a good concern to have when you're talking about what would be such a huge shift in so many ecosystems...
  ...buuuuuut...
  I have to believe this change would happen slowly... mosquitoes wouldn't just go extinct over a holiday weekend. It'd take years, if not decades, of dedication to the eradication strategy and even then, certain populations may prove immune to the best efforts of science.
  That being said, even if it did execute as planned, I feel like the gradual decline of the mosquito would coincide with a gradual increase in other invertebrate species that would fill that niche. So as mosquito populations slowly declined in a local pond or creek, you'd see things like say chironomids (midges) thriving with the reduced competition for habitat, and the fish that ate mosquito larvae replacing that part of their diet with more midges.
  Not saying there couldn't be other complications, but I don't think we'd see results fast enough that we'd end up with a broken link of the food chain leading to ecosystem collapse.
  
  The Aedes Aegypt can go fuck itself with all the diseases it spreads to us. Also, anywhere where it showed up as an unwanted guest, like all Americas, nature will just roll back 3 centuries or so.
- What screw worm??
  Exactly.
  
  what frost giants?
  Vote odin

Right, but consider:
Fuck them bugs
- Hey, most bugs are cool and an important part of their ecosystem.
  Mosquitoes tho ? Yeah, fuck them.
  
  as much as i'd love to agree with that-
  mosquitos are pollinators and an important food source for quite a few animals. Our eco system would not be fine if we got rid of them
- Ironclad reasoning. Flawless execution. Give this person a doctorate

VEM
Vegan
Except Mosquitos
- I know what you meant but I just imagined someone grimly eating mosquitoes out of pure spite
  
  I saw a video of Africans scooping up pounds of them with nets, mashing 'em up and frying bug patties.
  
  Mosquito paste is delicious
- Yeah agreed, all life is sacred except the ones we don't like.

I am a hippy nature person who tries to be merciful and kind to plants or insects. The exceptions are mosquitoes and ticks. Those fuckers want to take my blood and dont settle for one serving if they get the chance. Were in a biological armrace and so far we've been loosing. Let's see how they like being fucked with.
- Also ticks.
  
  I would take 100 mosquito bites over one tick. One of the only creatures in nature to scare the hell out of me. And I own snakes.

I find the compromise acceptable. Please roll out the mosquito killing technology asap.
- Harbor freight sells an electric flyswatter. The time is now!

I actually love seeing mosquitoes struggle to survive. I don't care if they're incapable of morality, they're evil and I hate them.
- I hate them too but they are just trying to eat and breed, just like us. So kill them with mercy.
  
  No to that entire comment.
  
  If they weren't one of the biggest spreaders of viruses you'd be right, but, that's my god damn blood, I made it, it's mine to keep, inside of me preferably.
  
  Yes to that entire comment.
  
  Maybe to that entire comment.
  
  Yeah they're not like wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets, who know nothing but hate and malice in their yellow and black striped hearts.

I mean, have you ever seen a pug? They're fighting for air their entire life. Or chihuahua's? Awful personality and bred out of usefulness.
- Chihuahuas can have a not completely closed cranial bone (is this the right word?), which means if you pet them at the wrong place you literally can touch the brain and potentially kill them. My mood would be bad, too, if this was the case for my body.
  Pugs also can have their eyes popping out if you handle them wrong (e.g. gripping them at their neck).
  The head of King Charles Spaniels are to small, meaning their brain does not have enough room. This can lead to brain fluids getting stuck in the head, which increases pressure on the brain, leading to infathomable headaches, hallucinations, motor deficits, etc, pp.
  Breeding some dog breeds should really be prohibited.
  
  . This can lead to brain fluids getting stuck in the head, which increases pressure on the brain, leading to infathomable headaches, hallucinations, motor deficits, etc, pp.
  Oh man I can never enjoy their derpy look again, knowing it's because their brain doesn't have room.
  Breeding some dog breeds should really be prohibited.
  Strong agree. Although there are also breeders doing "healthy" versions of pugs, German sheperds (their hips are awful for them, but the back "sliding down" to low hips was considered an essential characteristic for the race), French bulldogs, etc.
  For pugs they're calling it "retro pug" and essentially theyre trying to get to what the breeds was before fancy European dog breeders started valuing aesthetics more than say, the dog being able to breathe.
- "You see what we do to the things we love???"
  "What the fuck do you think we're going to do to you?!"
- Or the chickens you eat? They can’t even stand up out of their own feces
- Yeah they're my soul animals

We have suffered for millions of years under mosquitos are they are likely the biggest killer of humans in history. Maybe us evolving big brains and developing genetic engineering is an evolutionary necessity?
Or as Harbinger said: “We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.”
- Is that mass effect?
  
  Yep :)

As a Brazilian, I won't feel sorry for these fuckers.
- I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all!
  
  The only good bug is a dead bug.

In pretty much every other context, yeah. But for real, fuck mosquitoes.

It’s a bit like watching a pug dog try to breath.

I get the feeling of discomfort but it's basically the same feeling we get when someone breaks a pencil
There is no evidence that a mosquito is capable of feeling the kind of despair or horror that a human would feel in a similar situation. It's unlikely that mosquitos can form emotions at all.
At the same time, a huge portion of human-animal interactions involve the human controlling the animal in ways that they animal can't even comprehend. A dog has no idea you're doing operant conditioning to change their behavior. Pigs have no idea they're being fed just so they and their children can be eaten.
The only way to avoid this kind of thing is to turn off your big human brain and go back to ape tier. We might need to go farther down the tier list than that though https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War

Genetically engineer them to grow to the size of Cessna. Ride them to battle

That seems mild.
Could we try to convince the males that they are the ugliest things on earth so they find large animals that can step on them?
Maybe come up with a liquid that you put in standing water that makes the mosquitoes grow very tiny legs and a very large left wing? You know, so they have to fly to move and they can only fly spinning like crazy.
I got a better one! Make them neon bright and glow in the dark. Make those fuckers be the center of attention. I'm talking kids with nets and old guys with cameras and microscopes with single mosquito flashes (like 1 mosquitoes per photo). And of course sugar sweet flavor? Everything under the sun trying to find them and eat them as snacks. I kinda like this one the best.
- And this is it. This is how we arrived where we are now.
  Nature? KILL IT! EXTERMINATE IT!
  We've spend 2000 years slowly beeting nature to our wims. It has destroyed the planets ecosystem on a scale only seen by planet wide desasters in the past. We have driven countless species into extinction, and still counting. We take without any regard or resecpt for anything then our own needs.
  That is exactly the mindset the comment I am replying to has to me.
  
  Yes!
  Total mutual destruction is the only way™
  
  Neon bright mosquitoes that glow in the dark? Heck yeah! I'll keep some in a jar for Halloween 🎃😄!

This is amazing. Far better than killing them off.
- Shouldn't you include /s tag here
  
  Not a biologist, but it actually is better on paper. They can still pierce other animals. Just not humans. They stay part of the food chain for amphibians and birds or what not, we don’t get malaria. Seems like a win-win.

On the one hand this is creepy as hell
On the other fuck mosquitoes
- Great. First science was making the frogs gay. Now it's turning the mosquitos trans.
  What's next? Lesbian amoebas? Pansexual algae? Non-binary seahorses?
  Has science gone too far?
  
  Has science gone too far?
  No

Do vegans support this because it prevents mosquitoes from consuming animal flesh, or do they oppose it because it denies the mosquitoes their nature?
- It's nuanced because it could reduce suffering overall, but it could also disrupt ecosystems in ways we can't predict and cause even more suffering. I think the latter is more likely. People have a tendency to paint animals they don't like as insignificant to the ecosystem, but they're nearly always incorrect. Wasps, for instance, are important pollinators, even if they do sting, and mosquitoes are an important food source, even if they are deadly. Anyone who advocates for eradicating species like these is doing so through a biased lens. We are nowhere near the point, technologically or scientifically, that we'd be safe playing god with the natural world like this -- especially not with the massive damage we've already caused to the environment. Someday? Maybe. But not right now.
  I do also find it horrific to forcibly alter a mosquito's body so she can't express her natural behaviors. After all -- mosquitoes may cause harm, but they lack the capacity for moral reasoning, and thus cannot be evil. Thus, they don't "deserve" any kind of torment. But my personal discomfort with this isn't a moral argument.
  So, uh, that's my take on it as a vegan.
  
  I'd argue that we can predict ecosystem effects. In America we annihilated malaria hot spots with DDT. Didn't seem to crash any ecosystems.
- ebin pwn

Cleanse the followers of Nurgle!

DIE, DIE, DIE

Why not just eradicate them? Genuine question. I don't think they serve any purpose in nature and are just pissing off every living being.
- They absolutely serve purpose in nature, they are a significant food source for bats and many other insects and males are pollinators.
- Putting aside questions of ecosystems etc, I think the main reason is that we just can't - ironic since we seem to be extint-ing all the other animals
  In South America they tried in the 50s and 60s, and more kept cropping up. They breed so quickly, if you miss an area they can just rebound. Then more can come in on ships and stuff
  So you couldn't really localise it, it would have to be a huge global undertaking. And it would likely require widespread use of pesticides that are at best tricksy and at worst illegal, not to mention environmentally shitty
  
  Most modern plans for eradication involve creating a virus that handles it, rather than a pesticide.
  Have the virus introduce a gene that takes a few generations of breeding in the impacted population before it starts to debilitate or sterilize the mosquitoes. That way your virus can start to kill the population even as it spreads to areas that were missed.
  
  Also significant politics within the field preventing integrated approaches to control. It's possible we could target specific species of mosquito that are vectors for deadly disease, with the intent of eradicating the disease by suppressing the vector. It would be the greatest collective undertaking of human kind. We'd have to shelf things like international borders and profits.
  We're stuck with being annoyed in any case.
- They need blood to procreate so the method in the post does exactly what you are asking for
- Well, they actually do have their ecological roles and it is always a hard decision if one should interfere on such a large scale with biological systems. We might think that we understand it, but it could be totally wrong. Really hard to predict. Mosquitoes are an important food source for other animals and are also pollinators.
  
  I read somewhere that spiders & co. don't like them because they have too less nutritional value. Literally flying little bots that want to stab you.
- Many species of mosquitos are reliant on blood for reproduction. The females utilize a "blood meal" for the nutrients for laying eggs to be fertilized. Additionally, it is the female mosquito bite that transmits diseases like malaria.
- Eradication is really hard. If you just kill mosquitoes in a certain area, what's gonna stop them from coming back? You're just not gonna get all of them.
  This way you introduce a mutation that can actually propagate through the gene pool, disabling the undesired trait for future generations. It's also highly selective, so that you don't accidentally get rid of other species or poison an area with pesticides.
  Also living beings have no "purpose". They fill an evolutionary niche and shape the ecological system around them. The piss off us, so we play a little god, but nature has no opinions or morals whatsoever.
- Bats eat mosquitoes so we be killing off bats food supply. So just get bats and solve your mosquitoe problem.

We gave a mosquito gender dysphoria?
- We have created tomboy mosquito. Humanity has peaked.

"Sheen, this is the 7th week in a row you've shown CRISPR modifications to the mosquito genome to curb malaria in class"
Comments are all the same as when they made mosquitos infertile, unable to spread malaria or wingless too.

I get the caution about unintended consequences but damnit of all the crazy planetary issues we're dealing with right now, I'd rank
"oops, got rid of West Nile and Malaria as well as annoying little red bumps from wandering too far from big cities"
As a win, the consequences of which we can probably figure out how to deal with when we come to it.
I know it doesn't work that way but I'd trade all the world's mosquitoes to keep the polar bears or pangolins or something any day.
- Mosquitoes are the bottom of the food chain. There's reason to be worried about this getting out of hand

I'd like to see any scientific study that reassures at least a little that this won't have terrible ramifications for ecosystems and the food chain.
We know too little, we are shortsighted and we have a bad record of intervening with nature.
- It's a pretty ineffective strategy, but I'm just going off this one photo.
  If it's genetic, and the females can't get a blood meal, then they won't lay any eggs to pass on those genetics and just die.
  Then the ones without that gene will lay all their eggs and the next generation will be unchanged and they have to spend all that money again to do whatever they did which had no effect.
  
  Knowing a bit about crispr my understanding is that crispr is the technology that can be used to circumvent that scenario by making the effects kind of like an genetic time bomb

We genetically engineered mosquitoes to have gender dysmorphia - weird times.
- They are turning the ~~frogs gay~~ mosquitoes trans!

I had a fruit fly problem over the summer and felt guilty about the cruelty of the glue traps. But when it comes to mosquitos, roaches, and wasps, I'm Hitler. I would favor genetic alterations that expanded their capacity for suffering.
- Roaches? Those don't attack us right?
  
  They do with the many diseases they carry.

LOL FUCK EM

Surely this won't have any knock on effects with the food chain...

This is what vegans want. They want to take your virile bloodsucking proboscus and replace it with a limp dick fruit licker.
BAN ALL VEGANS
(Small /s)

This will probably work for 20 years, due to evolution they’ll just re-evolve that thing hard
- If your proboscis stays engorged for more than 4 hours, contact a geneticist

This is as sad as watching the Terminator try to kill people with a broken gun. Alexa, play "in the arms of the angels"

One day we will be Gods
- Is this Drake of the 69 Dragons?

Horrible and unethical idea: We modify the mosquito to strongly prefer the blood of some specific animal species. Said species will then be raised in captivity only for it to be sacrificed to the mosquitos. This way they get to procreate and spread the modified gene to new generations, and keep them alive for the ecosystem to feed on.
- Mosquitoes are the new Gods.
- It's already happened, we're the sacrifice...

I can't believe i'm saying this, but... I think mosquitos don't deserve this. There's basically no life form that deserves our cruelty more than mosquitoes, but this pushes a boundary i didn't know was there.

"sir, there's been a complication...it seems the mosquitoes with our gene are dying off in water ways and directly polluting the waters....humans may never be erect again."
- In all seriousness... that would solve a lot of problems, and humanity would persist with (upgraded) reciprocal IVF. It would be kinda sad to see mankind disappear though.
  
  Well penis pump+ring keep it up long enough I'm sure

As long as they can still get blood from other creatures too, I'm okay with it. If not, than that could have wild implications to the food chain assuming it leads to massive population degradation.
- Not all species of mosquitos feed on blood, like how only some bats feed on blood. As long as we only mess with the ones that feed on blood, it is a lot more likely that species that feed on mosquitos will have time to adapt to population changes.
  Even the ones that do feed on mosquitos don't feed exclusively on mosquitoes.
- I have a suspicion this gene would not be selected for when the mosquitos proceeded.
- The entire point is to kill them. They are invasive anyway

Yeah but those little bastards started it. People call what's happening in Gaza a genocide but that's nothing compared with the mozzie kill count.

I'm having a hard time actually finding a source for this. Just a few poorly written articles that basically cite this video as a source. Something this potentially impactful seems like it would make the rounds more, so I'm very skeptical.
- https://www.synthego.com/blog/gene-drive-crispr
- I saw this posted on Twitter and the community notes said the person's skin was too thick and it's a normal mosquito.

It's a nice idea. But I wonder what the long term ramifications might be. What ripple effects might happen that we can't see today that end up being problems in the future.
Human history is littered with such problems.
- There have been extensive studies done on the topic already, the planet does not need mosquitos.
  https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/what-if/what-if-mosquitoes-went-extinct.htm
  https://www.nicd.ac.za/what-would-happen-if-all-the-mosquitoes-in-the-world-disappeared/
  
  While some species may benefit from the absence of mosquitoes, others could face ecological disruptions due to changes in food webs.
  However, eliminating mosquitoes entirely could also have unforeseen consequences, highlighting the importance of careful consideration and scientific research.
  Other people have asked the same question you have, Niko, and scientists think that removing every single mosquito from the world wouldn’t have a bad overall effect on the environment. But none of us are sure what will happen to small ecosystems and whether these would be better off without mosquitoes.
  The science is not really settled yet.
  
  Yes I know. And maybe those studies are fully correct. I certainly have no way to cross check them. So you and I must take them at face value.
  But even science will tell you that you should have at least some skepticism of such studies. Because it always seems like we miss some tiny important detail that only reveals it's self later as we refine our knowledge on a subject.

Why make them flaccid instead of just killing them?
Most species are invasive and not part of the natural ecosystem of most places anyway.
- The idea is to introduce this genetic expression into wild mosquito populations. That way, the inevitable act of mosquito reproduction lowers the next generation's reproduction rate.
  
  WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Who knew this whole time I was team mossie

lol its soon gonna be us. and you bet they will be selling it as a great thing at first.
- Facebook is leaking. Yuck.🤢
  
  why?

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