Meh, the global ecosystem is fucked anyway. Might as well trim out the especially annoying bits and enjoy some relative comfort on our way to extinction. If doing so accelerates our downfall a bit, that’s a fair trade.
I say it’s worth the risk.
But unfortunately, hunting nazis is still illegal.
But not immoral!
Don’t let the law stop you from doing what’s right.
Ah… (Homer Simpson meme) so far.
Just gotta figure out how to turn their proboscis inside out with gene editing, make that an oral med, put it in a “supplement”, and get marketing to sell it to them as a dick enhancer.
Make sure to label it “HOMEOPATHIC” and the government will leave you alone.
Sell in deep web or Nazis groups that “we found how to make a drug to enhance of the most pure of the races” and advertize there
Just do it with a car for the least amont of consequences.
This, we can’t have only the bad parts of mass extinction
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Just a guess… they’re probably a food source low in the chain. Disrupt the food chain and we’re screwed.
https://www.britannica.com/story/what-purposes-do-mosquitoes-serve-in-ecosystems
Well there’s like 30 species and only 4 that hurt humans, so mosquitoes can stay, but those specific 4 can die off.
Even better, there’s thousands of mosquito species, and only 4 that bit humans
Those 4 can fuck right off into extinction
Exactly.
There’s one specific species that causes malaria. Getting rid of that particular one would probably do more good than harm. Their place on the food chain can be filled in by others.
But if they fill in the place in the food chain, that also means they need to be snacking on us.
And I’m not just saying that to be a smart-ass. If humans were a different species, we’d call them horrendously invasive, awful for local ecosystems and that it’s really important that their numbers are kept in check, or whatever other euphemisms there are.
No, I don’t want to suggest that we should leave humans to die, but we should be aware that it’s not as simple as just saving a few lives. We will run into different problems sooner rather than later.
Everything I’ve read suggests that mosquitoes aren’t a primary food source for anything, and that their absence would be relatively easily adusted for by those creatures that do eat them. Still, that’s a hell of a dice roll.
Edit: And apparently that may be wrong anyway.
For other animals—such as lizards, frogs, spiders, and other insects—adult mosquitoes are the primary food source.
I have argued for the same caution every single time this came up on Reddit, because I know of a dozen examples in history where we fucked up something similar.
I got downvoted every single time, across several posts over the years, because obviously the hive mind believes things will be different this time! The thing that males me confident it’ll fail is I’ve never seen, and nobody’s ever provided, an example where this type of ecological engineering has actually succeeded for the better.
The biggest reason it may be different this time is previously we were all like, “let’s exterminate dogs,” and it turns out dogs are important. This time is more like “let’s exterminate pitbulls.” There will still be plenty of mosquitos around if the plan is ever put into motion, we are only targeting a very small slice of them. That doesn’t mean there won’t be issues, it could well be just as big a mistake as all the previous times. But at least it is more likely to work out.
What makes you so confident that this super sophisticated “selective targeting” is 100% guaranteed? What if the species who has killed off 10-100% of every animal population on the planet, in 1 thousandth the time most of them took to evolve, isn’t as smart as they consider themselves to be? What if the talking chimps, with a few decades education, missed something and end up accidentally exterminating all mosquitos? How many animals and ecosystems depend on an animal that’s existed for longer than most terrestrial species? What if our weapon spreads to other arthropods with a similar DNA and “exterminates” insect species around the world, who are already in a historic rate of decline, right after we’ve degraded every habitat on Earth, just as our unplanned terraform irrevocably alters their climate forever?
Are any of these risks worth millions of human lives? Maybe we should focus on altering ourselves? At least then our failures will be contained…
Well, like I said, there is still a chance of collateral damage, which is why there has been so much study to try and make sure that isn’t going to happen. We’ve been sitting on the ability to do this for a long time. As for chances of killing other species, I don’t think that is a risk from the method. They basically just breed mosquitoes of the targeted breed, and modify their genes so they can only have male offspring which can also only produce male offspring, etc.
this type of ecological engineering
Do you count reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone to be the same type of ecological engineering? I haven’t checked progress on that for a while but the last I heard, it was too early to say whether it was successful. I highlight Yellowstone because of how cautious the effort was (it took years of planning and analysis) and this caution feels like it’s directly descended from the fuck ups of the past
Reintroduction is not the same thing; that’s an attempt to reverse our damage and restore the ecology that existing before we fucked shit up.
There’s definitely a potential for negative consequences, once the balance has been damaged long enough, but wolves inhabited Yellowstone for hundreds of millennia and have only been gone ~0.03% as long. The years of planning were probably regulatory and because wolves are complex social animals that can’t simply be abducted, dumped, and expected to succeed as though you didn’t just traumatize them with teleportation.
I can kill off mosquitoes and spiders in the same go? smashes that mosquito-nuke button so hard that it’s shattered to dust
Mosquitos aren’t some special niche. Take out mosquitos and something else moves in to replace them, something that doesn’t bite.
There’s nothing that solely depends on mosquitos, and wouldn’t prefer to eat other things which mosquitos may be suppressing by existing themselves.
It’s impressive that almost every single sentence that you wrote is incorrect.
Their eggs are a rich snack for fish. The reason they’re a rich snack is because their mom sucked blood.
That said, we can probably kill off the one species that causes malaria. Other species will move into the gap.
“But bitey”
If we could we’d try to kill algae and plankton for turning the oceans green and ruining our pictures. We’re not a smart group, us.
To be fair, mosquitoes are the most dangerous animal to humans because of disease spread. It’s not just annoying, itchy bites.
It’s true and I get that just that we can’t go eradicating one of the bases of most terrestial ecosystems based on that.
Clearly you haven’t tried yet. Where’s Bob the builder at?
Maybe that’s their purpose? Human population control? LOL!
Mosquitoes have killed more humans than every single war ever conducted by humans since the dawn of time, combined.
So will blowing up our already fragile ecosystems.
Kid named Malaria:
Funny how much (actual scientific) debate is around mosquito extinction event whilst we are well into a mass extinction event we caused (not to mention all the direct and systemic ecosystem eradication such as marshlands of all sorts).
Exactly. If we’re going to kill everything else, why not them?
Because then we will have a few years of being able to sit outside in peace before going outside and melting.
And we as a species are such bastards that we would want them to melt, so it’s all going according to plan.
I think they researched this and found that literally no creature completely rely on mosquitos, and that if they were wiped out the power vaccum would be replaced by other small flying insects that are within the diets of the creatures that would otherwise eat mosquitoes. So yeah, there really isn’t anything stopping us from wiping them out. I say do it, and just keep some in a lab just in case if fucks stuff up. Or maybe more reasonably just modify them so they can’t suck human blood or pierce human skin, which I’m pretty sure we’re also already capable of.
Or maybe dont eradicate them? They’ve been here for millions of years why do we feel like their existence is worthless because they bother us, I say, prevent them from carrying diseases instead…
I’d say it’s more than just a bother. You’re spot on about preventing them from carrying and transmitting disease.
Though I’m perfectly okay not having bot flies around anymore… Another insect that could be considered a bother but we mostly destroyed their population.
mosquitos have killed more humans than any other animal or disease ever. you might change your mind about them if your child died due to them, but luckily you probably won’t ever have to experience that because of privilege.
Ok girl, I get your point but I don’t think we should eradicate a whole species for our convenience, I’d rather we give the people access to healthcare so that the illnesses carried by mosquitoes don’t kill anymore.
By the way I’m actually allergic to getting stung by these pests, if one decides to go for my neck I go to the ER.
doing something to save countless human lives isn’t doing something “for convenience”. also, “just give people access to healthcare”? how would you do that? there’s regions where people don’t even have clean drinking water. it’s simply not possible to just give all of humanity healthcare.
If you haven’t seen Puss in Boots 2, do yourself a big favor and go see it.
On the surface this seems like it could be a running joke. A sequel to an 11 year old spinoff from Shrek 2. Ridiculous that they came out with such a good film.
It has one of the best on-screen depictions of a panic attack that I’ve ever seen, which I wasn’t expecting
Who is your favorite fearless hero?
It’s a great movie, it brought me to tears, I highly recommend it.
I’m also just a sucker for Death depictions
PLEASE do cockroaches next. I refuse to believe those monstrosities are capable of good, even tangentially.
If cockroaches went extinct, there would actually be some pretty significant effects on ecosystems. They’re not just pests; they play a crucial role as decomposers. Cockroaches help break down dead organic matter—stuff like leaves, wood, and even dead animals. Without them, you’d start to see a buildup of this kind of waste, and the whole process of nutrient recycling would slow down. This matters because a lot of plants rely on nutrients that get released when organic material decomposes. If that process stalls, it could disrupt plant growth and soil health.
Plus, cockroaches are food for a ton of animals—birds, reptiles, small mammals, and other insects all rely on them. If they disappeared, it would mess with food chains, potentially leading to population drops in species that depend on them. And let’s not forget, cockroaches are also tied into the microbial world. They carry microorganisms that help break down certain materials, so their extinction could mess with those processes too.
So yeah, it’s easy to think the world would be better without them because they’re gross, but in reality, ecosystems would take a pretty big hit if cockroaches went extinct overnight.
Yeah tbh cockroaches get a pass, mosquitoes are an existential threat to our species.
A bit of an exaggeration but fuck em.
Thanks for this. As much as I hate them, my daughter and I were recently trying to find whether they serve any purpose besides occasionally ruining my life.
They’re not just pests
*pets
I saw three in the past hour. Two while I was in the shower, and one in the kitchen. I will do anything to have these fuckers extinct
You watch naked cock roaches showering?
The mosquito we see around us are invasive species that we humans brought along as we migrate across the continent. Make sense if their extinction bring neglectable impact to the local ecosystem. They aren’t supposed to be there to begin with.
There is a species of mosquito that is a prolific pollinator, one of them for blueberries.
Humans have already caused so many species to go extinct.
Doing it on purpose for self defense seems less bad to me than indiscriminately because we want to be more comfortable but maybe that’s a meaningless distinction.
As if human care about future consequences.
Yeah, this idea scares me.
Mosquitos feed on apex predators and feed the nearly bottom of the food chain. Imo they’re up there with salmon in terms of nutrient transfer, absolutely would cause chaos at all levels if they were eliminated.
Uninformed take. First of, we are working on killing off only a few, malaria carrying Mosquito species in certain regions. Whatever niche they leave will be filled by another, possibly native species of Mosquito.
2nd, nutrient transfer my butt, they carry like 1ml and that’s mostly water. You definitely transfer more nutrients by having some ants in your compost bin.
Things add up. Total biomass of mosquitos is 5 million tons.
Also mosquitos are pollinators.
I thought they just didn’t breed in my habitat last time I moved— turns out they can breed here but they’re quite tightly managed.
Socal?
Nor-cal but close
What about house flies? Can we kill those too?
And Otters
I’m not sure what to make of that
Person you responded to saw otters holding hands and got mad/jealous:
Here is this complex visual to help you understand:
Can’t stand anything that people like. Only I am allowed to like otters. (I need to gatekeep)
