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Google requests permission to release 32m mosquitoes in California and Florida (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by Valuy@lemmy.zip to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] Murse@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I'm in favor of anything that gets us closer to making mosquitos extinct. Either the ecosystem adapts, or it's now on an only-slightly-steeper nose dive toward total collapse than it is anyway with the amount of non-mosquito related damage we're causing every day.

Like, if we're fucked anyway, let's be fucked in the relative comfort of a world without mosquitos!

[-] village604@adultswim.fan 5 points 1 hour ago

Iirc they've done several impact studies and determined that wiping out the species that bites humans wouldn't have a significant impact.

[-] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 2 points 47 minutes ago

Only two species really, the rest are important pollinators. But big fuck A. Ægypti

[-] Zier@fedia.io 1 points 39 minutes ago

Did anyone check with Minnesota first??

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 40 points 5 hours ago

Yes, I hate mosquitoes, but they’re a pretty significant part of the ecosystem. But Google is well known for their measured and thoughtful approach, and especially long-term planning, so I’m sure it’s going to be just fine.

[-] untorquer@quokk.au 1 points 38 seconds ago

There is literally no option to endanger mosquito species which act as vectors for human disease while people, agriculture, and wild mammal populations exist. This is local suppression in municipal areas.

32 million would be like fighting a wildfire with a spraybottle if your goal was eradication.

Eradicating disease is an option though as we CAN control transmission.

[-] MangoCats@feddit.it 9 points 2 hours ago

They are targeting the major disease carrying species, so it's not like we will be getting rid of all the pests - and their benefits - the way aerial poision spraying does.

Testing in Singapore reduced disease burden by 70-80% after the release, that's significant improvement in quality of life - I know people who contracted West Nile, it's not fun.

[-] Mpatch@lemmy.world 15 points 4 hours ago

50/50 this has been in the works for a long time by many trust worthy people and companies well before Google. How Google got their dick in this? Who the hell knows. They also wanted to do the same in New Zealand for rats. They are invasive and have decimated the local bird population by eating eggs. It almost went ahead until some dumbfuck indigenous big chief was all like "nature finds a way" well now, birds are dead and rats are everywhere. Guess nature got fucking lost.

[-] MangoCats@feddit.it 7 points 2 hours ago

“nature finds a way"

Yeah, nature's way is: the rats win. That's how we're here and the Neanderthals aren't.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

What? The rats fucked the birds until the species merged?

'Cause that's what happened between us and the Neanderthals.

[-] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago

Was this around the Waikaremoana area, by any chance?

[-] Mpatch@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

No clue sorry. I haven't looked into it in some time.

[-] davidgro@lemmy.world 9 points 4 hours ago

I'm honestly ok with the ecosystem risk to eliminate the specific species that bite humans. Other species will likely fill the niche they have as food, etc. Mosquitoes are literally the deadliest animals, killing way more people than even other people.

[-] otp@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 hours ago

What exactly is the risk to the ecosystem? Since you're okay with it, you should know what it is, right?

The ecosystem is pretty important for things like us having food.

[-] CodingCarpenter@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 hours ago

How about this. I would rather the entire ecosystem including you and I collapse than keep putting up with the little vampires. For such a snarky prick I don’t see with any answers

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 70 points 5 hours ago

Sterile mosquitoes. Which is actually a highly effective strategy for lowering mosquito populations. Also, only the females bite you - the male mosquito’s entire purpose in life, with no exaggeration, is to bang and then die.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago

We sure? Do we want to trust Google with this? Why is Google involved at all. Feel a conspiracy with this.

[-] MangoCats@feddit.it 4 points 2 hours ago

Google is involved in all kinds of things, this is one of hundreds of "surprising" projects they have running.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 21 points 5 hours ago

........am I a male mosquito? I don't bite. I bang, and......well one day I'll die.

[-] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 points 1 hour ago

No, you are simply a car.

[-] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 5 points 4 hours ago

Didn't this already happen once, and it turned out that sterile mosquitoes aren't as sterile as they thought? I might (and hope to) be misremembering.

[-] MangoCats@feddit.it 4 points 2 hours ago

Not to worry, they're using AI to sort the mosquitoes, so they totally won't accidentally release a bunch of super-females with extra disease carrying capacity and ultra-fecundity, because they specifically told the AI not to do that...

[-] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 1 points 1 hour ago

Trust me, bro.

-Google, probably

[-] Professorozone@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Surprised they're asking.

this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
78 points (96.4% liked)

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