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  • Hacker News
  • Something about mosquito-borne diseases lands on HN every year or so, resulting in hand-wringing about whether we should deliberately cause species extinction. I have seen the suffering they cause firsthand, and so my response has become rather consistent:

    Do we want to eradicate mosquitoes?

    Yes; fuck them.

    We (intentionally or no, mostly not) cause the extinction of hundreds to thousands of species every year for much more mundane reasons: deforestation is the big one, climate change another. And that buys us arguably nothing but enriching people that benefit from the process of deforestation and climate change--folks that're economically desperate enough to log illegally, and energy barons. These extinctions are mostly tragic, and the net benefit to human societies is likely negative.

    Mosquitoes are fucking evil. They kill more humans every year than any other animal. Malaria is only the most well-known disease they spread; see also dengue ("breakbone fever", named for what it feels like), West Nile virus, and more. Those that malaria doesn't kill are frequently left with a low-level chronic infection that makes them less effective as people. Malaria and mosquitoes kill children, disable the working population, and economically cripple entire nations.

    As best we can tell, things that eat mosquitoes also eat other things. But I'd vote for nuking the mozzies from orbit even if that weren't the case. They're such an unmitigated cause of human suffering and hardship.

    by Arubis
  • The tools available for these biological operations are fascinating. OP's article links this other one, which explains everything that can be done in practice with today's tech and reads like science fiction : https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-ultra-selfish-gene/
    by benterris
  • Does anyone know if this is possible to DIY? I live in an area where dengue is endemic on a substantial land area and would be interested.
    by zhivota
  • I've had Dengue fever, it's no joke, this is great news.

    I'm super prone to getting bitten so having to apply insect repellent and restrict myself to wearing certain clothes is such a pain.

    by Jackevansevo
  • Humanity is eradicating entire species left and right. Mosquitoes are our worst enemies. Can we have a deal to save some little poor amazonian frog (the doomed one which has only ~100 animals and 1 location left) and after we accomplish that, in return wipe out one species of mosquitoes?
    by kubanczyk
  • The technology to eradicate Aedes mosquitoes exists. Time to use it ruthlessly. There's no good reason not to do it and at least a million reasons per year to do it.
    by yyyk
  • Reminds me of the novel Everything is Tuberculosis, which explores the idea that we have a cure for the leading cause of death from infectious disease and "that the disease is no longer primarily caused by the bacteria, but instead by human choices."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Is_Tuberculosis

    by ortusdux
  • Nearly 700 million people contract mosquito-borne illnesses each year, resulting in over a million deaths. Mosquito-borne malaria has killed roughly 52 billion people (or half of the estimated 108–109 billion humans ever born).

    I'm shocked by how many people in the comments want to protect the mosquitoes because they may be playing some unknown role in some unknown ecosystem, which no scientist or researcher said is necessary (unlike bees). We've lost significant ecosystems and biodiversity. Over 99% of all species (5 billion) are extinct, we are fine, but we draw the line at a few species of mosquitoes out of 3600 species?

    Is it because Malaria, Dengue, Zika, Filariasis, West Nile are unheard of in Western countries? Because of climate change and changing weather patterns, warm environments and migration, it may soon come to a country near you. Probably not the brightest idea to be pro-mosquito.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikungunya

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphatic_filariasis

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_fever

    https://www.pasteur.fr/en/whats-new/latest-news/news/which-m...

    by thelastgallon

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