this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
750 points (97.1% liked)
Science Memes
11243 readers
2996 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- !reptiles and [email protected]
Physical Sciences
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and [email protected]
- [email protected]
- !self [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
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/
The science is not really settled yet.
There are non-biting mosquitoes. Those would just fill the same ecological niche.
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.
I am all for eradicating the mosquito pest but there is no way a study is going to cover all possible impacts of removing them from existence. Anyone claiming to do so is just drunk on hubris.
The amount of ecologically horrifying acts that our species has already done, I'd be willing to add "got rid of mosquitos" to the pile.
If you're fine with the risk of a possible ecological disaster, then kill them all off. But remember, killing all the wolves was also thought to be a great idea at one time. Fortunately, we weren't able to achieve that goal before discovering we were wrong. Such decisions are final and can't be undone if they go wrong.
The hubris is in the idea, that with such a long human track record of being wrong about such things, is executing a such total and final idea is the right thing to do. But go ahead and do it. I'll be safely dead when the error might be discovered.