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Google Has a Plan To Eliminate Mosquitoes Around the World (bloombergquint.com)
Zorro shares a report: Silicon Valley researchers are attacking flying bloodsuckers in California's Fresno County. It's the first salvo in an unlikely war for Google parent Alphabet: eradicating mosquito-borne diseases around the world. A white high-top Mercedes van winds its way through the suburban sprawl and strip malls as a swarm of male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes shoot out of a black plastic tube on the passenger-side window. These pests are tiny and, with a wingspan of just a few millimeters, all but invisible. "You hear that little beating sound?" says Kathleen Parkes, a spokesperson for Verily Life Sciences, a unit of Alphabet. She's trailing the van in her car, the windows down. "Like a duh-duh-duh? That's the release of the mosquitoes."
Jacob Crawford, a Verily senior scientist riding with Parkes, begins describing a mosquito-control technique with dazzling potential. These particular vermin, he explains, were bred in the ultra-high-tech surroundings of Verily's automated mosquito rearing system, 200 miles away in South San Francisco. They were infected with Wolbachia, a common bacterium. When those 80,000 lab-bred Wolbachia-infected, male mosquitoes mate with their counterpart females in the wild, the result is stealth annihilation: the offspring never hatch. Better make that 79,999. "One just hit the windshield," says Crawford. Mosquito-borne disease eradication is serious stuff for Alphabet, though it is just one of many of the company's forays into health care and life sciences.
Jacob Crawford, a Verily senior scientist riding with Parkes, begins describing a mosquito-control technique with dazzling potential. These particular vermin, he explains, were bred in the ultra-high-tech surroundings of Verily's automated mosquito rearing system, 200 miles away in South San Francisco. They were infected with Wolbachia, a common bacterium. When those 80,000 lab-bred Wolbachia-infected, male mosquitoes mate with their counterpart females in the wild, the result is stealth annihilation: the offspring never hatch. Better make that 79,999. "One just hit the windshield," says Crawford. Mosquito-borne disease eradication is serious stuff for Alphabet, though it is just one of many of the company's forays into health care and life sciences.
...can you equip them to get rid of the mosquitoes too? They're getting annoying. You can at least make them less annoying by getting rid of the mosquitoes.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
that I can actually support. The mosquitoes in Wisconsin were the worst I've seen in decades this year.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
by killing moskitoes, they kill plenty of spiders, frogs and all matter of other insecs and animals that feed on them... therefore they are trying to kill all life...
Scares the bejeesus out of me. What are the environmental ramifications of the eradication of this species? What other animals depend on them for reproduction and/or as a food source? What else will be killed by killing off all mosquitoes?
Did they ASK the people who lived there if they want these mosquitos released? No, not their politicians, the residents.
The sheer *arrogance* of this company never ceases to amaze me.
Better make it 7998 one just hatched offspring due to a weird genetic immunity. I guess we will have a new population of super mosquitoes soon because that's how evolution works.
Do you want fewer mosquitoes, for at least a little while, or not?
If so, shaddup!
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
This is a terrible idea. Nobody with two brain cells to rub together needs an explanation why.
From Wikipedia:Mosquitoes diverged from other insects about 226 million years ago.
What's all the buzz about?
Zika wasn't a problem in South America until the Sharks lost the Stanley Cup in seven games.
Sure, where these are not native, eliminating them not too long after they turn up is probably not going to kill anything else. But where they are native, somethings will hunt them and they may have other functions. In the worst case, you get a chain reaction and a lot of things change. This may well make the situation worse.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
But we can't adequately keep track of variables in software we've written.
Isn't it perhaps a tad presumptuous to think that we've taken into account all the variables in our reverse engineering of nature? I appreciate this mindset would mean no progress - but perhaps a halfway house, where we're not... yanno... attempting to make a massive modification, like "killing off an entire species"?
Depends on the numbers and the details. Usually these world-improvers are bright eyed hacks that get it wrong and make things worse, sometimes massively so.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
As much as they can spread malaria (the effects of which are wildly exaggerated outside of Africa) they must have some positive effect in the eco system. Providing food for birds and other larger insects if nothing else. So what happens when they are eliminated from the planet?
Small birds are for losers! Kill their main food source!
Do you want fewer mosquitoes, for at least a little while, or not?
If so, shaddup!
No, I'd rather maintain a reasonable amount of biodiversity.
If mosquitoes went extinct: Mosquito larvae are very important in aquatic ecology. Many other insects and small fish feed on them and the loss of that food source would cause their numbers to decline as well. Anything that feeds on them, such as game fish, raptorial birds, etc. would in turn suffer too. Mosquitoes can be wiped out but the ecological damage that would be necessary (draining swamps/wetlands, applying pesticides over wide areas), along with strict regulatory enforcement, would make eradication not worth it unless there was a very serious public health emergency.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
> Usually these world-improvers are bright eyed hacks that get it wrong and make things worse, sometimes massively so.
Citation needed. Similar "bright eyed hacks" wiped out polio and smallpox, and are trying to do the same to malaria.
Hence the proverb, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Nahh it just works and not much markup at this point seeing as all the patents are expired.
> Zika wasn't a problem in South America until genetically modified mosquito were released in Brazil.
That smells like bullshit. Got any proof other than a random tinfoil shoutout from an anonymous coward account? Doing a few searches shows that this sounds like a new wingnut talking point, ignoring actual facts.
a) The people doing that were definitely not bright-eyed hacks.
b) Nothing else depends on Polio and Smallpox being there. Eradicating a disease and eradicating a species are two very different things.
Knowledge on your side needed, not a citation.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I wonder how many species will fail when one of their primary food sources is gone...
This is, fairly literally, a case of the cure being worse than the disease. You mess with the food chain, and bad things are likely to happen. Really dumb. You'd think the Trump administration was behind it.
this exactly.
There are many cases where humans introducing something or removing something has had a severe negative impact on ecosystems, causing us to further mess with the ecosystem to try and mitigate the issues caused by our mitigations.
Hawaii and mongoose is a very easy obvious one,and there are many many more like that.
Has Google given any thought to what eliminating mosquitoes does to the food chain? Bats eat them. Some birds eat them. I'd guess that spiders eat them. What happens to the creatures who have a (potentially) major source of their food just disappear?
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
This is a terrible idea. There are a lot of other insects and reptile/bird species that rely on mosquitoes as a food source. Drastically reducing their numbers, through breeding controls, is going to reduce a food source, thus affecting other species.
I understand the intent, I really do, but we have a laundry list of times humans have permanently damaged eco systems by "introducing" other species/modified species to try and curb a problem.
"Citation needed. Similar "bright eyed hacks" wiped out polio and smallpox, and are trying to do the same to malaria."
That was last millennium. Nowadays people are too stupid to vax their kids, fearing they catch autism.
Why would there be? I am sure Google fully understand the biome of this planet. What could go wrong?
At first glance I thought it said mosques. For a second there I was impressed.
Not a religious person, but, amen brother.
Mosquitos are reality. If you ainâ(TM)t lucky enough to avoid them entirely, at least figure out how to not get bitten and manage the mosquito population
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I would love to analyse the project. It sounds like an entitled millenial is about to do something stupid in the name of humanity again.
which kills around 1 million people a year?
I really wanted a mosquito laser cannon.
They were not "bright eyed hacks", hey were heavily educated and leaders in their fields. They were not a tech company involving themselves in something that is best left to biologists and ecologists.
I don't recall giving Google permission to kill mosquitoes on my property. If I wander around google's campus can I shoot birds? Why are they killing my Mosquitoes without asking for my permission.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Typical "let's bomb the shit out of it" US approach.
Many birds, other insects, fish eat mosquitoes and their larvae. For these creatures, mosquitoes serve as food. You'd be affecting the ecosystem. Besides, not all mosquitoes carry said diseases.
Otherwise why not also eradicate mammalian borne diseases by killing all dogs, racoons, possums and other potentially rabid animals globally?
You don't have to wipe out all mosquito species to eliminate the ones that spread human disease... I think there are only 6 or so that bite humans. Many of them would be considered invasive species in the Americas. These techniques are actually more selective than spraying and draining wetlands, which are the historical methods of mosquito control.
Let’s ruin delicately balanced systems of cycles.
By killing animals that aren't even the pathogen themselves, but merely carriers! (Which one could cure too!)
Because somebody who has so little clue, that he doesn't even have a clue that he has no clue, said so.
Yee-haw! . . .
In the spirit of "the universe revolves around us", "humans are not animals", "only humans can think", "black people are not humans", etc, we’re still so full of ourselves, it comes out or pores!
To me, mosquitoes are friends. Exactly because they seriously affect the biggest planetary pathogen, and already proven major geologic extinction event, there is: Humanity.
Their only flaw is that they don't target the deciders, but merely the periphery of the human swarms.
I hope the gene drive mutates and jumps to "businesspeople".
I am an atheist, but thanks.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Guam and tree snakes.
Zika was first identified in humans in early 50s. It in was identified in South American in 2007, long before the modified mesquito experiment.
I hate fat people.
Do you want fewer mosquitoes, for at least a little while, or not?
If so, shaddup!
No, I'd rather maintain a reasonable amount of biodiversity.
If mosquitoes went extinct: Mosquito larvae are very important in aquatic ecology. Many other insects and small fish feed on them and the loss of that food source would cause their numbers to decline as well. Anything that feeds on them, such as game fish, raptorial birds, etc. would in turn suffer too. Mosquitoes can be wiped out but the ecological damage that would be necessary (draining swamps/wetlands, applying pesticides over wide areas), along with strict regulatory enforcement, would make eradication not worth it unless there was a very serious public health emergency.
The food source part is highly dubious, and the later part is completely unaffected by the method being tested.
Mosquitoes are important pollinators of plants and a source of food for other animals. I hope they understand the impact of wiping them out, but I suspect they don't.
Why is google doing this instead of some international UN accountable body?
Do we really want unaccountable corporations making all the important decisions for our planet?
Not one weird accusation or mention of his personal software business. If someone knows APK in real life, check to see if he's okay.
Ya but then the gorillas will just die when winter comes along...
So replace them with mosquitoes that fills the same ecological niche but doesn't carry malaria?
this exactly.
No, not at all. The targeted species, Aedes aegypti, is African, and IS NOT NATIVE TO CALIFORNIA. So there should be no negative repercussions from wiping it out. There are plenty of native species of mosquitoes (which are not disease vectors) that will be happy to fill the vacated niche.
Although the targeted A. aegypti will develop resistance, in the meantime, the temporary drop in their population may be enough to disrupt the spread of diseases. The spread of vector-borne diseases goes down as the reciprocal of the square of the vector population. For many of these diseases, R0 is already less than one, so this may be a way to lick'em for good.
Hawaii and mongoose is a very easy obvious one ...
Before the arrival of Europeans, Hawaii had zero mosquitoes. All the mosquitoes there should be wiped out. Then we can start working on the mongooses.
Only a millennial could think that wiping out a species is good.
a) What's your strict definition of "bright-eyed hacks" vs "oracle genius"? What qualifies Jonas Salks and not Dr. Jacob Crawford?
b) There are very specific species of mosquitoes that are targeted here. Also, nobody knew what eliminating a Polio would do, they just did it. The world adjusted by having more people live.
I see a lot of ideas that look great on paper, but they never take into account externalities.
Human hubris knows no bounds.
Then we can start working on the mongooses
It's mongeese, but I don't think they mind.
If you ask any biologist, the consensus is that if every mosquito worldwide dropped dead, nothing significant would happen to any biological systems. They're just a nuisance.
It's an invasive species. It doesn't belong "naturally" in that ecosystem. The vector is extremely specific, and the bacteria is already in the ecosystem, and probably native. That bats and birds are already eating mosquitoes infected with it. This isn't "reverse engineering nature", it's observing something very straight forward and copying it.
Any that survive will make the next generation that much more resistant to the attack. Mother nature isn't stupid.
I never MADE false accusations & defended myself SO perfectly that FINALLY /. got rid of the fool(s) IMPERSONATING me &/or STALKING me by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts.
* Still: /. did the RIGHT thing as far as I am concerned as it's stopped! I held them off via "CYBERIAN TIGER" (excellent prog I built that reposted vs. downmods HIDING my defending myself).
I put out something that works for the ABSOLUTE GOOD (even ADVERTISERS are defended vs. malware & go faster online via my program that aids in the creation of a protective hosts file that speeds you up 2 ways!
* & like combatting mosquitos w/ their NATURAL predators? I use what NATURE provided in hosts - quote Dr. Alice Krippen from "I AM LEGEND":
"Take something designed BY NATURE & reprogram it to work FOR THE BODY rather than against it"
APK
P.S.=> "It's working - Neville, it's WORKING" https://it.slashdot.org/commen... ... apk
We have to inform Florida representatives to start nominating other prettier critters to be the new state bird
We should keep them in the loop.
why on Earth would you want to evolve mosquitoes that are impervious to laser-fire?!! That's just daft.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I remember when we had a plan to eradicate all those pesky wolves....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSzQ9w5TCqc
"Alexa, eliminate species #29048"
Table-ized A.I.
This is different from drugs killing large percent of the population, leaving behind immunized populations to propagate. These sterile mosquitoes, fight for and win females and resources and then squander them. So even if a rare mutated immunized mosquito is formed, it is not likely to get far. Its progeny need to find similar immunized males to propagate the immunity. In the drug based fight, ALL surviving insects have immunity. Here the individual with immunity is likely to mate with one without immunity and the mutation will not propagate much further.
For beneficial mutations to propagate, the vast majority of the matings should take place between individuals genetically more distant than the first cousin and closer than third cousin, second cousin seems to form the ideal distance. Closer than first cousins, deleterious mutations propagate faster taking away any benefit from beneficial mutations.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Their heads are too small to hold them. Try sharks instead.
Table-ized A.I.
Ae. aegypti arrived soon after Europeans first arrived. That was a pretty long time ago. Do you think that the environment has changed to accommodate the presence of this insect after a few hundred years?
How long does a species have to be somewhere before there's negative repercussions from removing it?
Show me on the 1st Amendment bobblehead where the moderator touched you...
The targeted species, Aedes aegypti, is African, and IS NOT NATIVE TO CALIFORNIA. So there should be no negative repercussions from wiping it out.
What about repercussions in AFRICA? "Wiping it out" implies globally, not just in California.
And you caught some of these swarming mosquitoes and identified them as the targeted disease carrying species. All by yourself. You sound very informed and educated on this subject.
You are elimiinating a food source for bats and hummingbirds, and other critters that rely on skeeters for food. Elimination should be on a local level only.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Actually, as the name suggests, the Aedes Aegypty is an invasive species to the Americas that arrived in slave boats from Africa (the disease had previously spread from Asia to Africa a few hundred years earlier).
Dengue fever (a disease first identified in Asia) could then spread freely at first in South America but more recently in North America as well.
Eradicating the Aedes Aegypty won't harm biodiversity because it is an invader. And this sort of control measure is very targeted to this particular species of mosquito (unlike DDT for example that would kill everything).
This kind of thing is disturbingly common. Way too many people think that complex systems of which we barely understand can be easily improved. They think politicians (or corporations or themselves!) should somehow be able to actually improve amazingly complex systems such as the economy and healthcare, etc. It's preposterous and wasteful, and we're all paying for it and so will our kids.
Yes, we get lucky once in a while and get some minor improvements, but I'd guess the dysfunction is far greater.
See subject: I never said THAT - but that's typical of you trolls trying to put words in my mouth I NEVER SAID...
* WEAK...
(Please - won't YOU show us, from my ORIGINAL post you replied to, where I say I caught + id'd mosquitos as being disease carriers, won't you? IMPOSSIBLE - as again, I never said that).
APK
P.S.=> Not even a "nice try"... apk
Google ceased to be a tech company a decade ago. They are an advertising company. Why would we let them do this??
If a few people decided to try to eradicate a species of insect, albeit an imported one, the Feds, police, environmentalists, SJWs, Peta, etc. would be in their face demanding wide ranging research, environmental impact studies, and probably be arrested and jailed.
When Google does it, everyone gives them the benefit of the doubt and lets them go ahead without any criticism or impact studies.
Remember, Google is a company that censors their employees and fires them if they dare speak out , is developing killer robots for the military, got rid of google labs, and put supercookies in TSL1.3 specs. so the can track you everywhere on the web
Where could Google go wrong? (except again)
Yeah, but when did it become a problem?
Uhhh... I'm disappointed. This article has some scientific work behind it. I was expecting Google to embed ultrasounds in ads ... or somethin'
From an informative list of mosquito myths, it turns out that:
Since then, studies have found that mosquitoes make up less than 1 percent of bat diets.
Breeding and distributing species of mosquitoes that avoid humans, however, would actually be ecologically benign.
I'm sure it won't be done because it costs .01 cents more per hundred thousand mosquitoes killed.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
See subject: What's your point? Thanks for proving me CORRECT (& even IF skeeters are only a fraction of the TOTAL diet of a bat, they DO EAT THEM - & you EAT YOUR WORDS, lol (judging from what I've seen from you UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous trolls THAT'S YOUR TOTAL DIET vs. ME, lol)!
I mean, please: For us NORMAL non-troll folks? Eating say, hamburgers does NOT represent our TOTAL nutritional intake of many food types.
APK
P.S.=> You're DYING of MALNUTRITION as EATING YOUR WORDS is NOT GOOD NUTRITION - especially with your FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH ramming them back down your CHICKEN NECK THROAT, lol... apk
"Wiping it out" implies globally, not just in California.
A bacteria borne disease is not going to "wipe out" Aedes aegypti. It is very robust and adaptable species. They can breed in an overturned bottle cap.
But if we knock the population back, it gives us breathing room to target the diseases. If there are a million cases of mosquito borne disease every year, very few resources can be devoted to each outbreak. But if we eliminate 90% of the mosquitoes, the result is a 99% reduction in the spread of the disease. That means we can devote much more personnel and resources to pounce on each outbreak.
This is what happened with smallpox. Once we got it 99% gone, we had fast-reaction teams of dozens of people, that would fly in to each outbreak, and then fan out to vaccinate everyone in the vicinity, and quarantine those likely to have been exposed. The last case in the wild was in Somalia in 1973.
polygoose. c'mon.
There are so many species that depend on mosquito larvae for survival. Alphabet is being colossally irresponsible here. Are they going to create some alternative food for fish, dragonflies, bird species? Because those will die off, and the species that rely on them for survival will then die off.
Alphabet should be looking to make harmless the mosquito-borne illnesses, and leave the bugs alone.
"Annoying" is not a valid reason to instigate wide-spread species elimination.
I would rather a CRISPR-produced variety of mosquito that does not suck blood. Make these new non-blood-sucking female mosquitoes more attractive to male mosquitoes, by whatever criteria they use, so they preferentially breed with them.
Displace the blood sucking females with nice ones.
And once we have proven this technique with mosquitoes, we can try it on humans.
You seem to be mistaken about where you are. This is /., not a scientific review committee. The Polio example is still extremely obviously (and extremely obviously back then) something completely different. Makes me think you lack the background to understand what is going on here.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Mosquitoes are the carrier of multiple diseases (of the most dangerous kind), like malaria etc.
& actually, there is no limit for how many different diseases they can be carrier of,
since they are like syringes used/shared by multiple people!
Just think about how many people died from diseases carried by mosquitoes, since the beginning of humankind?!
& how many more people will be dying, for how long into the future?!
& for each person dying, think about how much problem they cause for their own families!
& of course, how much cost spent until now, and how much cost will need to be spend, for how long into the future?!
Are there ANY species in our world which would disappear, if mosquitoes are gone?
IMHO, the answer is actually NONE!
Fish, for example, can feed on other kinds of flies/insects, if mosquitoes are gone!!!
IF ANYBODY IS CLAIMING OTHERWISE, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE REAL/ABSOLUTE PROOF!!!
(Otherwise, keep your armchair expert opinions to yourself!!!)
IMHO, completely eradicating ALL DISEASES/PARASITES from our world, one by one,
should/must become a common shared goal of the whole humanity!!!
IMHO, we can really turn our world into our own heaven,
but only if we are WILLING TO DO WHAT REALLY NEEDS TO BE DONE,
for each big problem of our world!!!
if you crash the mosquito population then the food chain collapses
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
our environment? What could go wrong?
You mean the one that flings poo at people over at the zoo? Not so sure I want that one to live actually.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
And you sound like innumerable hacks on /. claiming that there is not such thing as climate change... You have an OPINION and seem to think that rules over everything else that other people know
That's a fair question that needs to be answered, but whatever those costs may be, they must be weighed against the thousands of people who die or are afflicted each year by diseases such as Zika, West Nile, Yellow Fever, and other ailments spread by this species. We aren't talking about wiping this species out because we find them to be a nuisance. We're talking about doing it because tens or hundreds of thousands of people have been debilitated or lost their lives and more will be too if we take no action. That fact seems to get lost as we argue about hypothetical repercussions in ecosystems.
We aren't wiping them out just because. We're wiping them out because lots and lots and lots of people are suffering and dying. Provided we've done our due diligence and have determined that the risk of a dire impact to the ecosystem is minimal—and by all accounts, that seems to be the case—it seems to me that this action would be justified.
It's a good idea to keep in mind that scientists believe that every 24 hours, between 150-200 species of plants, insects, birds and mammals go extinct. Also new species of the same are discovered (not sure about the rate).
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
they waste time doing it in Cali instead of the real world
What is the plural of moose?
Truth: If it's not one thing, it's another
I would rather a CRISPR-produced variety of mosquito that does not suck blood.
That is not a realistic goal. The female (only females suck blood) use the protein from the blood to make eggs. Non-blood-suckers would be at a reproductive disadvantage, and the modified gene would die out instead of spreading through the population.
A better goal is CRISPR-produced mosquitoes that don't transmit diseases. This would be no disadvantage to the mosquito, so would not die out.
And once we have proven this technique with mosquitoes, we can try it on humans.
Blood sucking human females are not a problem everywhere. Some countries don't have alimony.
Yes. Biodiversity is, apparently, only important if human beings aren't taken into account. Otherwise, it's open season on any species that dares to have a negative impact on humans.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
CRISPR the females to get even better protein from some food source other than blood.
It's time for Slashdot to give you the boot and eliminate your posts entirely.
The grandparent posted an informative link noting that mosquitoes constitute a very small portion of bat diets, meaning that eradicating mosquitoes is unlikely to have a substantial impact on bats. Furthermore, it's not necessary to eradicate all mosquitoes, just the species that bite humans. While mosquitoes do account for a significant portion of the biomass in some regions, it's not necessary to eliminate all of them, just some species. For example, eradicating all mosquitoes might have a significant impact in the Arctic, but it's only necessary to target the species that bite humans. I doubt this would have a significant impact on bats at all, though it might remove a food source in human-inhabited areas. That's not such a bad thing, either, because bats carry their own diseases like rabies, and it might reduce infections if there were fewer bats around humans.
But you go straight to calling people trolls rather than addressing their points. The grandparent was very civil, but because they challenged you, you immediately jumped to incivility and calling them a troll. You are toxic, and this is exctly how your threads devolve into off topic cesspools. You've admitted elsewhere in this thread to writing a bot for the sole purpose of circumventing moderation and spamming your comments. Your posts greatly outnumbered any of the impersonation that was occurring. I'm the person who impersonated you, with a bot of my own. My goal is to get you banned from Slashdot, so your personal attacks and anti-semitic spam will cease to pollute these discussions. I won't be impersonating you because it's not necessary, but I will continue in my efforts to get Slashdot to permanently ban you.
New Zealand and every land mammal ever introduced there. Before people there were none and birds did the mammal stuff.
So many commenters here who figure that scientists are the last people to get the news about fragile food chains and the dangers of unintended consequence. Probably these commenters are the same group of people who never did their own arithmetic to determine that the precautionary principle can't be applied along all possible dimensions simultaneously.
Add an invasive species where it wasn't formerly found. Big problem: the precautionary principle says to remove the species immediately (some things are still being mucked up), but it also says to leave the species alone (some things might already depend upon it).
Even for the things we've done (as a species) that we now mostly regret, we don't have a complete score card. Perhaps the first-order effect looks horrific—but honestly, even in those cases, it's still not a risk-free conclusion that we messed up.
For some reason, people like to elevate the precautionary principle to some independent, meta level of confident cognition, which completely obviates the kind of hard thinking we originally messed up.
Once upon a time, mammals were a pandemic of invasive species—all of them, pretty much everywhere.
Precaution is more about change management than change avoidance. In change management, there's no magic, default "leave alone". The context around the thing you're "leaving alone" is also undergoing change.
That's why the Buddhist philosophers say you can never step into the same river twice—the precautionary principle applied to the precautionary principle—which for some reason causes most Westerners to go "why would you do that?" before returning to their confident precautionating.
That's not evolution. Evolution is the supposed transformation of a particular species into a new species. What you are describing is selective breeding, which of course is a very simple concept every goat herder and dog breeder has known about since before civilization began.
> They were not a tech company involving themselves in something that is best left to biologists and ecologists.
So what you think a bunch of Scala coders got bored at Google and started genetically manipulating mosquitos?
What's Bayer? Merck? Bio TECH companies. Bayer and Merck also have a lot of non bio subdivisions but nobody hassles them about those.
Maybe Alphabet, a giant TECH company made a biotech division and staffed it with biologists, geneticists and ecologists? Think that's possible?
But no, it's probably the Scala guys.
Hey google, if you want to get rid of bugs, go look at Android.
maybe there's a decade of fewer mosquitos it's great, and the only result is the bat population starves to death.
Now the mutant mosquitos rise. their old nemesis, the bat is gone. we are overwhelmed with unchecked hungry insects.
oh, of course, not all the bats died. some bats had a predisposition to seeking out other meals. There's now a growing population of bats that make a living off of biting larger land mammals, including people. they also transmit disease.
> The Polio example is still extremely obviously (and extremely obviously back then)
The only reason the polio example was obvious back then was because polio was fucking terrifying and if anything helped everyone was all for it. Most people back then knew someone who was affected by polio. Hell, it lived in the outside environment. You'd hear about little Jimmy was out playing in the park and woke up the next morning and can't walk anymore and all the rest of the kids in the neighborhood are being kept inside because their parents are terrified their kids will end up the same way.
Zika has also affected a ton of people, but not in the "developed" world much yet. Believe me, when climate change pushes these mosquitoes a little further north over the next decade and there's thousands of kids born with encephalitis in the southern US, there *will* be a panic and an outcry. They'll probably bring back DDT in response.
See subject: His & my 2 yr. "anniversary" are coming up on that note & he is busy EATING HIS WORDS for that long too on it, lol!
* CLUE: Nobody & NOTHING stops me, BUT me - especially when UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous GOOFS give me guff...
(You can ASK ALL DAY LONG - you "shall not receive" - so QUIT CRYIN' like a butthurt wimp, ok?)
APK
P.S.=> You MIGHT want to take a read here on what I'm capable of vs. trolls https://science.slashdot.org/c... (who have been @ me for years & MOSTLY ever since I released my hosts program in mid 2012 'ODDLY' (not, it's advertisers/webmasters/inferior competitors/malware makers-botnet herders OR BUTTHURT TROLLS I've annihilated on hosts mostly & other tech too))... apk
With each news release from Alphabet/Google, it seems we'll soon see them convert into Aperture Science Labs.
#DeleteFacebook
Ask him WHY his false accusation of an old ware of mine was 1st taken down to NO threat & CA sold off the SHITTY antivir he sold (as a paid pawn of theirs) & they are GONE, done. dead... lol!
Lookup "CA Accounting Scandal" on Google - scumbags & THEIR BIRDS OF A FEATHER just go down vs. me everytime!
APK
P.S.=> See subject & the above on a FAT, SHORT LIAR from podunk idaho... apk
CRISPR the females to get even better protein from some food source other than blood.
Again, that is totally unrealistic. Any available protein source is going to already be exploited by other species that are far better adapted to it than your gene patched mosquitoes.
Amen is a Hebrew word that mean truth, roughly translated. What does atheism have to do with this?
Bullwinkles
Killing stuff does not solve problems ever! Apart from the ecological disaster this insanity leads to surely there are questions of morality which must be asked.
kill every human on the planet, mosquitos are no longer a human problem
cant argue with that right?
Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017
Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016
his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015
his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015
I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015
that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015
I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017
* SEE SUBJECT & TELL US: How's EATING YOUR WORDS taste?
APK
P.S.=> You're already VASTLY OUTNUMBERED but many more are coming (or ARE YOU SAYING THEY DIDN'T SAY WHAT I QUOTE?/b)
Apk has the answer for that - really... kill automatic updates by adding a hosts file entry setting updates.steam.com or whatever to 127.0.0.1. You have to find the right hostname for each software you want to block updates on by raymorris (2726007) on Friday July 06, 2018
APK your posts on this and the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error and/or bad advice by BlueStrat (756137) on Wednesday June 21, 2017
I support APK's stand on the hosts file and can't see why it's not used more than it is. My hosts file is 144247 lines long (4,332 Kb) it & a firewall serves me very well - by Trax3001BBS (2368736)
ABP is insufficient as a solid hosts file does everything APK reminds us about fast turtle September 17 2013
You need APK's hosts file - by Teun (17872) on Wednesday August 06, 2014
APK
P.S.=> You EATING YOUR WORDS != GOOD NUTRITION... apk
APK is totally right on this count. Adblock Plus on Firefox mobile is a dog on older, or lower end, phones. A hostfile based adblocker makes for a much better experience in this context. Of course, your phone has to be rooted, which isn't the case with Firefox + adblock." - by chihowa on Saturday May 16, 2015
APK solution STILL relevant Thud457 June 11 2015
In a footnote, I would like to note that I find your hosts file admirable - by vel-ex-tech (4337079) on Tuesday November 24, 2015
APK's monolithic hosts file is looking pretty good at the moment - by Culture20 on Thursday November 17
you're right about hosts files - by drinkypoo (153816) on Thursday May 26
APK, I know people give you a lot of shit regarding hosts, but please don't ever stop - by nasredin (958927) on Friday June 12, 2015 @03:34PM
APK
P.S.=> Are you ENJOYING the taste of EATING YOUR WORDS yet?... apk
APK is kinda right... I've given up on JS based adblocking and gone to blackholing in /etc/hosts, just like it was back in the 90s. The computational load has gotten intolerable for any ad-blocking using JS. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works. - by bmo (77928) on Thursday October 15, 2015
get around to 'installing' a hosts file list, not sure which one, likely the one from someonewhocares.org. If it works as well as what I used for a while about ten years ago, I'll be happy. And grateful to APK for the lesson and the reminder. - by kermidge (2221646) on Wednesday March 27
I actually went and downloaded a 16k line hosts file and started using that after seeing that post, you know just for trying it out. some sites load up faster. - by gl4ss (559668) on Thursday November 17
dammit MS, you proved APK right about something by lgw
APK
P.S.=> Your words YOU'RE EATING: You choking on them yet?... apk
(APK) is still right a hosts file really does work. It even blocked a some of the video ads that were inserted into a stream OrangeTide February 10 2016
the Host File Engine performs exactly as promised - by mmell (832646) on Thursday February 16, 2017
I do use APK's host file on all my systems at home by OrangeTide December 01 2017
I've never tried to belittle (APK's work), I've flat out said it's good - by BronsCon (927697) on Thursday February 11, 2016 @06:48PM (#51491263)
* Toss on 100,000++ users worldwide too!
APK
P.S.=> You still haven't said how EATING YOUR WORDS tastes? apk
Poor bats and frogs and larger insects and small birds - we must stop google, again!
Destroying an entire species cannot be allowed. Can't they make disease resistant variants so they don't collapse entire ecosystems?
Didn't the lefties in Cali learn that a human life isn't worth destroying an entire species from all their animal rights friends?
No. Mongeese.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
See my subject & FACTS vs. your LIES != spam OR antisemitic (& me asking if a guy is a JEW or not (which Rick Schumann did NOT answer, lol) is NOT 'antisemitc' either).
Blackmail whipslash OR ANYONE ELSE YOU LIKE fool - see where it gets you.
* Doesn't harm me in the slightest...
(I'd rather you didn't F w/ this site but seeing you are DEFEATED @ EVERY TURN by me, lol - I suppose "threats" &/or BLACKMAIL coercion is "the best ya got" (which is ZERO as always, lol)).
APK
P.S.=> I'm not arrogant - I just use FACTS you can't defeat (notice you won't answer simple questions put to you) & I just DUST dimwit DO-NOTHING DOUCHES like you ALL DAY LONG (for YEARS now on /. & for DECADES before it, my posts here PROVE it w/ some PRIME examples like Thor SCHMUCK &/or ArseHoleTECHNICA & now? YOU TOO!)... apk
Before the arrival of Europeans, Hawaii had zero mosquitoes.
As well as zero Europeans.
All the mosquitoes there should be wiped out.
D'oh!
Creating and using your own spambot is not the perfect way to handle anything.
See subject & with MY NAME on it dated yesterday when my discussion w/ Rick Schumann (who gave me shit based on falsehood) took place?
* You got NOTHING as usual? Of course not... lol!
(You got it ALL WRONG: I don't HATE jews - in fact, I pity them for their history showing they do THEMSELVES IN in many nations thru history & often due to their OWN bogus behavior - which I do NOT understand IF I had all that stolen loot I'd make the world a BETTER place - & their TALMUD calls us all PIGS to be robbed/raped/played & deceived etc. - so please - tell us "another one" ok? FACTS, again, do you in).
Hilarious - you call me "bitter" etc.? I'm not the one STALKING ME by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts - you're doing THAT my way - pitiful.
(Clearly you don't even RESPECT YOURSELF - you don't STAND BEHIND YOUR WORDS & you LIE like hell (all my other posts here PROVE that much) + even THREATEN BLACKMAIL on this site (stupid https://science.slashdot.org/c... of YOU that).
APK
P.S.=> Anything I say is solid w/ backing proof - UNDENIABLE verifiable CONCRETE proof so no "small wonder" you think I'm a brick wall - one you BASH YOUR DUMB SKULL against constantly DEFEATING YOURSELF, lol - thanks! apk
Aren’t viruses, by definition, species?
So, eradicating a virus and “a species” are, like, exactly the same thing.
(Fuck Smallpox, though.)
It's impersonators of me & I only post on hosts IF they stop threats OR speed you up. I don't off topic.
I won't "lay down" to losers attacking me 1st. I defend myself w/ facts they can't beat.
& NO WAY I'd "cry" like you "playing victim ne'er-do-wells" on /. (TROLL /.ers, not all) OR post on hosts offtopic.
I've got a "psycho fanclub" IMPERSONATING me & spamming + lying about MY work STALKING me by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts!
c6gunner CAUGHT IMPERSONATING ME https://linux.slashdot.org/com...
(His name's on the post as SUBMITTER signing "APK" & he ALTERED users words of praise of my work (since he tried INSULTING me 1st & I issued a FAIR CHALLENGE to SHOW HE CAN DO BETTER - he hasn't)).
gweihir PROVED you IMPERSONATE me https://it.slashdot.org/commen... too!
APK
P.S.=> I'm not here to win a popularity contest OR to lose (it's for LOSERS like c6gunner - not I): I'm here to WIN & so do hosts users... apk
How can we be so sure mosquitoes aren't actually useful in that when they do bite they help the host organism build immunity to whatever pathogens they may carry. Has this been studied?
See my subject: Your kind, you just do NOT "get it" do you? FACTS defeat YOUR LIES - & I've read those posts + verified a good 90++% of what's in them - they're accurate on Jews.
* You have NO FACTS - only your bullshit "speculations" (trying to "frame me" & whoever posts those posts on JEWS? Is damn accurate & you CAN'T deny facts OR give anyone any guff for it, period... you lose as always vs. "yours truly" (INVINCIBLE WINNER)).
APK
P.S.=> CENSORSHIP appears to be the weapon "your kind" likes when FACTS DESTROY YOUR KIND, lol (destroying yourselves)... apk
IS NOT NATIVE TO CALIFORNIA. So there should be no negative repercussions from wiping it out.
Humans ARE NOT NATIVE TO YOUR STATE. I suggest we wipe out humans in your state. There should be no negative repercussions.
See subject & your DESPERATION https://science.slashdot.org/c... lol - stupid of you that.
* My "bot" (not a bot - an executable that DEFENDED me & allowed me to override unjust downmods of me defending myself w/ FACTS YOU CANNOT OVECOME shown here again now https://science.slashdot.org/c... WITH PROOF OF IT (c6gunner especially that FOOL, lol)).
APK
P.S.=> Your BOT was DEFEATED/OVERRUN/NULLIFIED by MY ABILITIES, easily & you're MAKING me JUST HAVE TO SAY IT (it's tradition vs. GOOFS like you, lol):
THIS? This was JUST "too, Too, TOO EASY - just '2ez'" & quoting Woody Harrelson from WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP to Wes Snipes?
"Don't worry Sidney - I've hustled a HELL OF A LOT BETTER PLAYERS than you before... apk
See subject: Says it all & my posts PROVE it as they BLOW YOU AWAY (you who HIDE & STALK me + ADMIT to making a bot to try trash me with LIES https://science.slashdot.org/c... & YOU FAILED vs. my SUPERIOR engineering that DUSTED your "wannabe bot", lol).
* Yes, you aren't like me (winning) - all "your kind" KNOWS how to do IS LOSE & blackmail I see too EVEN FAILING THERE https://science.slashdot.org/c...
APK
P.S.=> Ah, the DELUSIONAL "everyone knows" (MINUS PROOF I ASK YOU FOR https://science.slashdot.org/c... & you have ZERO - consider calling yourself that, ZERO because you ARE A ZERO & I'm not (nothing like YOU or "your kind" that STALK ME by UNIDENTIFIABLE posts & ADMITS (thank you for that I can use it from now on FOREVER) you tried to CRAP ON ME w/ LIES even YOU are ashamed of & you SHOULD be, loser (get right w/ yourself, invent good things like I do, be of service to others & THANK GOD for gifts he sheds even on "your kind" & be his INSTRUMENT in life to do good - I can promise you 1 thing IF you do - your life will be BETTER)))... apk
The potential consequences make me a little nervous though. Mosquitoes are a leading theory on what drives the caribou to migrate. The caribou will stay in one area until the mosquitos are more than they can take, then they start running. May not stop running for a couple of days. This, combined with the birds and bats others have mentioned, make me a little nervous about potential consequences.
Before the arrival of Europeans, Hawaii had zero mosquitoes. All the mosquitoes there should be wiped out.
Let's just be a bit careful waving that sort of logic around because the same argument would technically also apply to humans and in a lot more places than just Hawaii.
Ah, so driving mosquitoes into extinction would be a drop in the bucket.
No, you wrote a spambot & admit it https://science.slashdot.org/c... & posts it made = downmodded EVERY SINGLE TIME, lol... & IF this isn't attempting to COERCE or BLACKMAIL whipslash, nothing is https://science.slashdot.org/c...
(LMAO - THANK YOU FOR SHOWING SUCH DESPERATION stupid)
* MAN - you can't PAY for this good of entertainment (you do WONDERS for my ego - thanks).
APK
P.S.=> You want ME to apologize for WHAT? Defending myself writing a program that BLEW AWAY your PUNY 'bot" that told LIES about me? Psycho - you need help - you're DELUSIONAL & DESPERATE beyond belief (especially the BLACKMAIL attempt link above - talk "SHOWING YOUR TELL")... get over your BUTTHURT boy! You take shots @ me & "FIRE GOETH OUT OF HIS MOUTH DESTROYING HIS ENEMIES" (iirc that's near enough to the quote from scripture to serve here vs. "your kind")... apk
You could apologize for your anti-semitic posts and the numerous off-topic comments you made. You could apologize for falsely accusing people like webmistressrachel of impersonating you. You could apologize for spamming about users like ZIP, c6gunner, Coren22, Ash-Fox, and anyone else you've done that to. That might be a good start.
See subject: Thanks for ADMITTING (again) you wrote a bot to try make me "look bad" (your kind, can't - lies don't cut it, get that thru your head) & YOU STAND BEHIND NOTHING by your HIDING behind UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts STALKING me (& yes, IMPERSONATING ME via your "bot" (talk desperate, lol - you're getting WORSE trying to BLACKMAIL /. now https://science.slashdot.org/c... )).
* You know the "infamous they" say REPEATING THE SAME MISTAKE OVER & OVER AGAIN EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS is a SIGN OF INSANITY... you're repeating them again trying to "take me on"... dumb.
APK
P.S.=> Your CRUDE & REPREHENSIBLE tactics with LIES are your UNDOING - don't you SEE that? You're doing it again now - taking shots @ ME & trying to "play victim"?? You ARE truly, DELUDED, lol - fooling nobody but yourself & YOU BRING YOUR OWN DESTRUCTION ON YOURSELF... apk
I ask you for PROOF of your accusations & you have none (fact w/ proof here) https://science.slashdot.org/c... ... man, you truly ARE touched in the head w/ your FURTHER LIES now (every one you list STARTED up trouble w/ ME to THEIR OWN DISMAY every single time).
* Fools like you, "your kind", you just do NOT get it do you? You can't win via your ATTEMPTS @ BLACKMAIL https://science.slashdot.org/c... OR by WRITING BOTS (that my program EASILY blew away, lol, reposting my self-defenses vs. UNJUST downmod CENSORSHIP) TO IMPERSONATE ME telling lies etc. https://science.slashdot.org/c...
APK
P.S.=> QUESTION: Are you a JEW? This oughtta be good for a laugh since you FIXATE on that, the answers REALLY obvious (except you're a no good liar proven all thru this debate exchange w/ myself, of course, VICTORIOUS via the POWER of FACT & TRUTH vs. your bs lies, lol)... apk
Consider that this species of mosquito is not native to the American continents and repost.
I call Bullshit. Give us examples of your assertion to prove me wrong.
the modified mesquito experiment.
Looks modified, indeed!
One in a million or whatever will survive and develop an immunity. A few of those will find each other and breed.
All this will lead to.is a new breed of mosquitoes that are immune to wolbachia.
You ADMIT to spamming & IMPERSONATING me https://science.slashdot.org/c... via your bot & YOU apologize for BLACKMAIL https://science.slashdot.org/c... threats to /. fool!
* YOU CAME HERE, starting your SHIT like usual, ONLY TO DEFEAT YOURSELF as usual... lol!
Again - you PROVE I posted the JEW posts? You have something. Until then ALL YOU HAVE is your UNFOUNDED accusations (vs. facts on jews they themselves provide thru their own history, actions & BELIEFS).
CLUE: You can't HASSLE anyone in ANY form if they used fact & again - I checked those facts on jews those posts do - they're VERY accurate (hence why I said I PITY THEM their stupidity (for a people that BREED FOR INTELLIGENCE, & yes a JEW PAL OF MINE TOLD ME SO? VERY DUMB OF THEM - does them in constantly!)
APK
P.S.=> You can't even ADMIT you spammed offtopic IMPERSONATING me you touched in the head weirdo - you have issues boy, serious ones, no questions asked & YOU PROVIDED THE AMMO FOR ME TO STATE THAT FACT all thru this exchange... apk
That fact seems to get lost as we argue about hypothetical repercussions in ecosystems.
Actually, what happens is it gets disputed as due to the past overzealous claims of such "facts" people have learned from the experiences that maybe we need to check the hyperbole before we need to chase down hordes of snake-eating gorillas.
See subject & what you say can't be believed after you ADMIT you wrote a bot to try lie about me https://science.slashdot.org/c... & MY work DESTROYED it, lol! ... & if THIS puny threat from YOU isn't a BLACKMAIL attempt on this website https://science.slashdot.org/c... NOTHING is... ah, the SMELL of WEAK DESPERATION from a WORM attacking ME & FAILING as always IS truly, in the air - that STENCH emanates from you!
HOWEVER - in a BIG way? I must THANK YOU for making ME look GREAT & yourself the HIDE BEHIND UNIDENTIFIABLE ANONYMOUS WORM you evidence yourself to be (with TONS of proof, lol).
APK
P.S.=> I asked you PROVE I post the JEW posts (which are, again, VERY ACCURATE & I learned much reading them) are from ME & you can't so cut the crap playing "victim" https://science.slashdot.org/c... - it gets OLD & is VERY weak (like you, lol)... apk
How about releasing 80,000 cobras into the wild?
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -- HST
Can this happen with humans? Could males become impotent, but not realize it until they've formed year long relationships? Then the female is unwilling to change partners just because of this, and they eventually die childless? Send out enough infertile male humans into a population and it will keep the human population in-check?
RoTfLmAo: FAR from "angry"! U make me laugh ESPECIALLY your blackmail threat to whipslash https://science.slashdot.org/c... & your BOT my program EASILY DEFEATED? Make me LMAO even MORESO https://science.slashdot.org/c... - thank you for making me laugh (@ your expense).
* CLUE (again): My posting FACT you can't defeat w/ lies as you STALK ME like the obvious LOON you are? Isn't arrogance.
It's just plain fact & truth (not arbitrary).
My BEHAVIOR helps folks - see LINK BELOW fool! Yours? Doesn't (surely didn't help YOU impersonating me & LYING about me too - low).
APK
P.S.=> MAN, lol - "you sank to MY level"? You WISH you could RISE TO MY LEVEL is more like it - like I said? Apply your energies to being of SERVICE to your fellow man as I do writing my program ("It's WORKING: Neville... it's working! " https://it.slashdot.org/commen... ) vs. YOU ADMITTING you wrote a BOT to tell LIES ABOUT ME & IMPERSONATE ME as well as STALKING me as you are now by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts - proof you do NOT STAND BEHIND YOUR LIES (I wouldn't either, lol))... apk
thousands of kids born with encephalitis in the southern US
Given typical election results, who would notice?
On what YOU want after you wrote a bot to lie about me & spam /. to 'frame me'? F- U https://science.slashdot.org/c... which MY WORK easily DEFEATED?? Please - how's it FEEL to want? An itch you'll NEVER scratch (least of ALL by BLACKMAIL threats by YOU https://science.slashdot.org/c... )
* See subject - I NOTED YOU EXPENDED DOWNMODS TO HIDE HOW I DESTROYED ARSEHOLETECHNICA https://science.slashdot.org/c... BY LETTING THEM DESTROY THEMSELVES PUBLICLY lol... which is, of course, what I'm doing to YOU now (thanks for HELPING me, hahahaha).
OF all the posts here, you went to the root one to TRY "hide all this" more (no biggie, most here see it anyhow) & THAT ONE... how "odd" (not).
YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF...
APK
P.S.=> Your BULLSHIT doesn't stand up too well to FACTS I use, now does it? Nope. Concrete VERIFIABLE undeniable FACT is my ally - you only have LIES/DECEIT & BLACKMAIL attempts (pitiful & WEAK showing your "tell" of DESPERATION in your SELF-DEFEAT) as you HIDE behind UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts STALKING ME (& admittedly IMPERSONATING me via bots telling LIES about me too which YOU ARE ASHAMED OF & should be (pussy tactics - much like ArseHoleTechnica tried - sure in their "private playpen" EDITING my posts to make it seem that way SURE DIDN'T STAND UP TOO WELL outside it @ Windows IT Pro (oh, what a CRUSHING DEFEAT for the arseholes))... apk
I just have to ask, are you familiar with MRSA? If not, I recommend on reading up on it as to explain why eliminating all but the strain that is resistant to something is a bad idea. Encouraging resistance is sort of...the stupidest thing the human race could possibly do.
I've apologized and I meant it. I'll move on with my life. I have better things to do than continue to argue with you. I've repurposed my bot to monitor your spam and flag it as abuse so Slashdot can deal with it. It will also start reporting the harassment of SuperKendall, who takes more than his share of abuse. It will now do something productive and try to make the comments a better place.
Meanwhile, your bot will continue to circumvent moderation, because you think you're better than whipslash and that his rules shouldn't apply to you on a website that he owns. You will continue to hold grudges over arguments that happened 18 years ago. You will continue to judge your worth by Slashdot comments and moderation, incapable of looking past even the most petty of slights. You will continue to be incredibly arrogant, while contributing little of value. You continually overstate the value of your hosts-based blacklisting and attack anyone who isn't unequivocal in praising you and your software.
Go continue to rage at ArsTechnica over stuff that happened 18 years ago. You can't move on with your life, and you never will.
Goodbye, Peter. I have better things to do with my life than argue with you. I had better things to do three weeks ago when I sunk to your level. It's time I do those things. Find someone else to rage about. We're done here.
I'll be registering for a Slashdot account and contributing to this site in a positive manner like I should have been doing all along. If I have mod points and see off-topic spam, whether it's yours or from the troll harassing SuperKendall, I'll be sure to mod it down.
See subject: Leave me be (I can't start w/ you - you hide by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous STALKING me & ADMITTEDLY even IMPERSONATING me SPAMMING /. https://science.slashdot.org/c... which you STOOPED LOW ENOUGH to even THREATEN BLACKMAIL their way https://science.slashdot.org/c... because you're OBVIOUSLY "BUTTHURT" over FAILING vs. me CONSTANTLY on every level imaginable!
Nothing stops me BUT me as I told you & I do others good (your bs doesn't & not even for you) https://it.slashdot.org/commen... & I don't like what I see going on RayMorris' way OR SuperKendall either - but I know what it's like (great minds have always encountered violent opposition from MEDIOCRE minds) & @ your hands (you're no 1st but as I said quoting Woody Harrelson? "Don't worry Sidney: I've hustled a HELL of a LOT BETTER than YOU before...") FAILING vs. MY superior engineering in CYBERIAN TIGER which NULLIFIED your bot perfectly (pats self on back).
APK
P.S.=> I was hoping you'd come to your senses & stop - listen: IF you can write bots then write stuff like I do in the link above that gets THOSE kinds of results for ANYONE using hosts files (& far more in speed too, natively & for less vs. ANY single 'solution' full of bugs + slowdown & resource hogging that does LESS)? You've done not only OTHERS a service but also yourself (there IS karma & I don't mean "/. easily gamed" type either)... apk
I don't like mosquitoes but there must be a reason why they exist. I support any actions penalizing Google and anyone else who threatens to fuck with nature.
"Google breeds mosquitoes and infests local neighborhoods with them"
Thats fine, we have been breeding mosquitos and look forward to producing a version that is immune to whatever countermeasures that Google creates.
Big Brother Google gets more evil by the day. Now we see these self-righteous wannabe genocidaires planning to release a biological weapon, in hopes of wiping out a whole species.
We call the faction who control Google "social just-us nazis" because they espouse censorship, racism, and militarism. So I guess it's not surprising that they are also enthused about causing animal megadeath. If these crazies are allowed to remain in power, it won't be long until they're building death camps for us deplorables.
President Trump: Break up Alphabet now! Arrest Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Sundar Pichai. Arrest the wild-eyed nazis behind the mosquito megadeath plan. Senate hearings on all of Alphabet's secret mad science projects. It's time for some sunlight.
STOP GOOGLE NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
Has anyone asked the Germans for their input? Seems they always have a final solution to any problem... (https://youtu.be/G6JewWEzEl4). Stephen Lynch is hilarious. Watch it.
Yea I'm sure we can crispr mosquitoes to prefer steak from the local deli.
No. We have about no examples were a severe infectious disease is critical for an ecosystem. They are nit parasites, where that is different. They are basically biological free-riders. Also, it is very easy to reintroduce that disease in case something begins to really break. Of course, that is not something you tell the public.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
meesa
Using language customarily used in a certain application domain (here: religion) gives some legitimacy to that domain. But you did already know that, since you are just trolling.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
If you eliminate one thing out of the equation, the whole system will self modify to adapt to that change. It's not like taking one life form out of food chain will destroy the universe. If things were that fragile as removing mosquitos from existence, the world will end. If things were like that, we would never evolve to this point to begin with. Nature changes and adapts, old things die, new gets born, new dies, surface heats up, freezes, floods, dries up, and everything else in between.
Only a human can be so arrogant to immediately assume that he has the power to destroy all of that.
Name them. Just for the past week.
Mosquitoes are almost certainly the backbone of evolution. With every bite, they transport viruses that silently transmit R/DNA fragments from 1 species to another. Most of these will do nothing. Some of them will be diseases such as west Nile, Dengue, VEE, etc. Others will be cancer. Yes, down the road, we will figure it out that some cancers were arthopod-borne. BUT, some of these fragments will actually cause a positive Gene to be formed. These fragments/genes will actually code for something useful. Sadly, the majority will be lost due to the transmission going to a regular cell and not to egg/sperm/precursors Finally though, a virus will finally hit the right egg/sperm/precursor, and finally add a new Gene to a species. This is very likely the main route of how species obtain new genes. And Google wants to destroy it.
and that does not address the fact that mosquitoes serve as main food for a number of bats and birds.
Hopefully, the UN or trump step in and prevent this.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Our friend the mosquito is responsible for adding years to the lifespan of the human race as a whole... see what will happen to the lungs of the planet when population growth and travel is unchecked.
who was like: first steps into biology and already is killing a specie. Umbrella corporation?
Are people that blind to notice how bad this is for the environment? Why do they get on the bandwagon of convenience so easily...?
Indeed, it's kind-of interesting how powerful the role of parasites in evolution has been. One could say these arms races have been entirely driven by them.
I'm sure they would be thrilled to eat some other kind of mosquito that does not spread malaria. Biodiversity needn't include horrific parasites.
WTF?
Phase 1: Male Mosquitoes infected with wolbachia breed with females and produce eggs that never hatch
Phase 2: A strain of wolbachia is developed to cross the species barrier and infect humans
Phase 3: Mosquitoes bite humans and transfer altered strain of wolbachia to human hosts who then breed and only give birth to still-born children
Where is Venom Snake when you need him...
If the number of survivors is low enough, the population still might collapse into extinction for that particular species of mosquito. There are over 3500 known species of mosquito, so even with immune survivors, it is possible for the depleted species to be out competed in the ecosystem by un-treated species.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
So the world is a delicate balance of things that naturally work toward an equilibrium.
Not sure If Google has just done too much diversity hiring and addled their ranks with less competent individuals or what, but this seems like a stupid idea if you've got no idea what the effect might be.
And we are worried about over population. There are natural checks and controls in place. As much as i hate mosquitoes, ...
I imagine this is how all these mysterious diseases appear, like AIDS, Ebola, etc. When non-medical doctors start practicing medicine on a global scale.
Eradicating the Aedes Aegypty won't last long. It originally came on slave ships? So today, new ones arrives by cargo ship and passenger plane. We travel a lot more now than when there were slave trade.
partner with boston dynamics to create billions of robot mosquitos. give those mosquitos tiny machine guns. Then use deep learning to have the robot mosquitos to target real mosquitos. boom problem solved.
Google, think about what you are doing. Bugs are a real part of our eco system
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html
Anyone who supports this nonsense should please read-up on what happened when China tried to exterminate sparrows.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign
tl;dr: 45 mio people starved to death.
I'm not sure that's guaranteed. Please someone let me know if I'm wrong. I'm just thinking there is no way to know 100% that any mosquito could be immune. We haven't yet found a human immune to cancer or the common cold (I know it's many strains but perhaps this bacteria acts similarly).
Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
Polymoose?
Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
I don't know if his stat is correct, but I do know that only a small fraction of species ever get around to being named. Think of all of the species specific parasites you can think of, then imagine that each species has a variety of those, and then each named extinction becomes quite a few total extinctions.
wiping mosquitos will wipe many other species, are they retarded?, if this is real, google should be shut down, or fire some "I know it all" liberal snowflake running this project...
Meesix
I've always had a problem with this. One would think that goose, mongoose, and moose would have the same plurals.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
agree, this will be awesome for awhile but then when the super mosquitoes arrive this move will solidify Google's spot as the most evil company ever.
Saying that we have no examples of severe infectious disease not beeing critical might be premature. We know that the ones we have killed off or heavily contained have had a big effect, but the end result of those effects(particularly on population growth) is still TBD. Diseases could have critical functions managing population sizes we have not ID'ed yet. I think the point of (but not the prospect of) possible re-introduction is an excellent one.
Eradicate mosquitoes, you'll be killing life all over the place. Such an idiotic way of spending millions of dollars on a thoughtless project!
If it's from Google, turn and run. DDT was doing a fine job of controlling and eradicating mosquitoes until Rachel Carson's Silent Spring published unsubstantiated and disproven lies about alleged side effects of DDT.
How's this?
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Moosen!
Human males have been becoming less fertile for several decades now. Exposure to chemicals in our environment is the most likely cause.
This has not yet led to a decline in population, maybe it has slowed the population growth, but still, there is no shortage of people getting in my way when I drive to work.
No, viruses are more like self-adapting nano-bots. It is debatable whether they are actually 'alive' in the way other organisms are. They have a reproductive function which they perform whenever they are in contact with suitable hosts, but they don't seem to perform any other function.
The first two mentioned are the passenger pigeon and the dodo. I don't think your google fu is very good.
Aren't you the moron who insisted Trump would be in prison or impeached 14 months ago, 11 months ago, 9 months ago, 7 months ago, 5 months ago, 3 months ago, last month, and earlier this month?
The only consistent thing about your beliefs is that they are consistently wrong.
Trump is going to be around 6 more years. You'll commit suicide in 2020. I'm never wrong.
Maybe. Almost certainly if they were using viruses -- see: Frank Ryan's "Virolution" ISBN-13: 978-0007315123 IIRC 43% of our DNA has viral origins. One reviewer writes: viruses have played a significant role in evolution. Large segments of viral genes have been found in human (and other) genome code fragments; viruses will co-evolve with their host under certain situations rather than destroy them. This co-evolution symbiosis has historically contributed to the selection process and enhanced the survival of both the host and viruses and added creative variation to the gene pool of all life forms. Part of our gene structure is due to viruses intrusion and subsequent symbiosis and are inheritable.
It's also possible this bacterium could jump between species
Also a good point. To answer that we'd need to know how much interaction there is between various species of mosquito, which is information I don't readily have. One would hope that the people who are doing this experiment would at least have considered these aspects, being 'experts'.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.