aaaaand.. we're all dead

[BigHurb]

"The Brazilian government have decided to try battling the spread of dengue fever with GM mosquitoes. 'Now, with dengue endemic in three of the host cities for this summer's World Cup , Brazilian health officials are trying a radical new approach — biotechnology. They've begun a two-year trial release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that have been genetically modified. "We need to provide the government alternatives because the system we are using now in Brazil doesn't work," says Aldo Malavasi, president of Moscamed, the Brazilian company that's running the trial from a lab just outside of Jacobina. The new breed of Aedes aegypti has been given a lethal gene. The deadly flaw is kept in check in the lab, but the mosquitoes soon die in the wild.'"

sounds safe and legit. doesnt sound like the start of the apocalypse at all.

[Sidelle]

...sounds safe and legit. doesnt sound like the start of the apocalypse at all.

Lol. I'm always watching for stories like this. The zombies are coming at any time now, people! Beware.

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/fa/bb/zshot9_2.jpg?itok=LDPc9VbG

[Tasslehofp99]

Lol. I'm always watching for stories like this. The zombies are coming at any time now, people! Beware.

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/fa/bb/zshot9_2.jpg?itok=LDPc9VbG

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc9bnjrZIw1qam5vs.gif

[moklianne]

"The Brazilian government have decided to try battling the spread of dengue fever with GM mosquitoes. 'Now, with dengue endemic in three of the host cities for this summer's World Cup , Brazilian health officials are trying a radical new approach — biotechnology. They've begun a two-year trial release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that have been genetically modified. "We need to provide the government alternatives because the system we are using now in Brazil doesn't work," says Aldo Malavasi, president of Moscamed, the Brazilian company that's running the trial from a lab just outside of Jacobina. The new breed of Aedes aegypti has been given a lethal gene. The deadly flaw is kept in check in the lab, but the mosquitoes soon die in the wild.'"

sounds safe and legit. doesnt sound like the start of the apocalypse at all.

Population control inc...

[Swish]

http://smallworldcomics.com/comics/2011-08-16.gif

[Sidelle]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/cbe520c82a0b1e160667ee56a045e565/tumblr_mlj2bvJP6q1rakpcyo1_400.gif

[myriverse]

yaaaaaaAAAwn

No better way to deal with the situation.

[moklianne]

yaaaaaaAAAwn

No better way to deal with the situation.

Overpopulation? definitely

[Glenzig]

Overpopulation? definitely

There is no overpopulation. That's a myth.

[Whirled]

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

http://environmentalthinker.blogspot.com/2009/04/non-renewable-natural-resources-how.html

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/oct/31/six-natural-resources-population

/tinfoil hat on?

[Glenzig]

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

http://environmentalthinker.blogspot.com/2009/04/non-renewable-natural-resources-how.html

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/oct/31/six-natural-resources-population

/tinfoil hat on?

Irrelevant. There are more than enough natural resources, including water, for a lot more people than 7 billion. Compare 7 billion people to the landmass that is livable on earth and there would be more than ample resources for many times the population of today. The problem is greed and mismanagement of resources. Not lack of them.

[Bazia]

Considering there are places like most Canadian provinces and enormous stretches of the United States with less than a single person per mile population density I'm going to vote on the side of no overpopulation.

I'm only using those examples because these are areas I'm familiar with being from North America.

[Elendae]

I hope they wipe every damn mosquito off the face of the earth. No one likes them. Even ecologists and mosquito experts agree that killing them off would barely affect the ecosystem and would probably save 50-100 million people a year.

[Whirled]

True; but certain populations explode while other places do not for certain reasons.

Population of Alaska isn't even a million people (very large state) but yet New Jersey has more than several million in a tiny little state. Not many people running off to live in Swahili (or insert another desolate or barely livable area) these days due to the things one can get in much more civilized areas.

[moklianne]

Irrelevant. There are more than enough natural resources, including water, for a lot more people than 7 billion. Compare 7 billion people to the landmass that is livable on earth and there would be more than ample resources for many times the population of today. The problem is greed and mismanagement of resources. Not lack of them.

Humankind likes to condense into major cities. These cities cannot support themselves using the resources available. They have to pull resources from surrounding areas. Look at NYC and all of the fresh water that is pulled from many upstate reservoirs. Therefore pulling it from those areas and affecting their water tables. I know, because I live there.

We are still losing massive amounts of forestland all over the world at an alarming rate.
Humans end up becoming locusts for the areas they cohabitate in. If you can find evidence that all of this is another 'sky is falling' situation, by all means link some peer reviewed papers or studies.

[Ahldagor]

I hope they wipe every damn mosquito off the face of the earth. No one likes them. Even ecologists and mosquito experts agree that killing them off would barely affect the ecosystem and would probably save 50-100 million people a year.

mosquitos weren't a problem until humans began clear cutting and burning forest for crop land thousands of years ago. sickle cell adaptation developed to fight malaria.

[Glenzig]

Humankind likes to condense into major cities. These cities cannot support themselves using the resources available. They have to pull resources from surrounding areas. Look at NYC and all of the fresh water that is pulled from many upstate reservoirs. Therefore pulling it from those areas and affecting their water tables. I know, because I live there.

We are still losing massive amounts of forestland all over the world at an alarming rate.
Humans end up becoming locusts for the areas they cohabitate in. If you can find evidence that all of this is another 'sky is falling' situation, by all means link some peer reviewed papers or studies.

Cities are the biggest problem. Takes way too many resources to support people living in substandard conditions. Spread people out, let them grow their own food and tend their own land. But, then government dependence would decline, and the power mongers would have no.where near as much to control. So that won't happen.

[BigHurb]

they're fucking with a level of the ecosystem, voluntarily... for a voluntary event.. where was the concern for their actual population sans olympics... stupid ideas for stupid reasons = humans

[Ahldagor]

Cities are the biggest problem. Takes way too many resources to support people living in substandard conditions. Spread people out, let them grow their own food and tend their own land. But, then government dependence would decline, and the power mongers would have no.where near as much to control. So that won't happen.

cultural shift of the post industrial revolution killed that idea, so now cities are coming up with ways of integrating the rural into the urban instead of spreading out the city. there's been a huge push in houston to clean up and add more parks, and to get people involved in community gardens.

[Glenzig]

cultural shift of the post industrial revolution killed that idea, so now cities are coming up with ways of integrating the rural into the urban instead of spreading out the city. there's been a huge push in houston to clean up and add more parks, and to get people involved in community gardens.

That's great. But all resources still have to be shipped in from other areas. So its not anything near a self sustaining system.

[Kazi]

Got a source?

[quido]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1BDM1oBRJ8

[Glenzig]

Got a source?

Who are you asking?

[Kazi]

The OP. He quoted something but didn't provide the source.

[Azure]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/cbe520c82a0b1e160667ee56a045e565/tumblr_mlj2bvJP6q1rakpcyo1_400.gif

[BigHurb]

The OP. He quoted something but didn't provide the source.

so how does that make your responsibility to research any less... got ... an ANTI-source?

if you dont see my source, google it.. you would have to be able to use your own brain. if you cant use your own brain, what is my job here again... to google something you wont read nor understand lol

http://www.oxitec.com/ - not exactly SkyNet but same amount of letters.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-04-25/brazilians-welcome-genetically-modified-mosquito-help-fight-dengue-fever


"Dr. Helen Wallace, of the organization GeneWatch is a frequent critic of Oxytec. She’s concerned about a British company “going to developing countries claiming they have a solution to a very serious problem there, without being totally transparent about the potential risks.”

One concern is that that female GM mosquitoes are sometimes released along with the males, and that their bites could cause allergic reactions. There’s also a risk that some of the offspring of the GM mosquitoes could survive, with unknown consequences."

now multiply that probability by the number of events or lives .. its GOING to happen

might not be disastrous event (could even be beneficial.. but that is really a scary bet to make, would you make it), but that the event has closer to a chance than 0, is not cause for 0 concern, as a scientifically minded person. art thou?

this kind of shit is "how it starts" .. we have a new game that no one realizes we're playing with the massive kinds of numbers now

[myriverse]

This isn't "how it starts." It's not even all that new.

Trusting shit like this to nature-- now THAT is scary.

[Kazi]

Seriously? I just wanted your source. Don't be so defensive.

[Kazi]

This isn't red RNF bro. Jesus

[BigHurb]

you started it! ILL FINISH IT

[Kazi]

Step into the sunlight of non rnf. It's all rainbows and unicorn shit out here

[Nuggie]

Population control inc...

Those of us left, people not in the big cities, will need to breed. And I just got a vasectomy. Dammmnnnnn!

[Nuggie]

Kazi, if you put the idiots on ignore these forums brighten up a lot.

[Aviann]

Nobody knows the devastating effects of mosquitoes unless they've spent six hours in a makeshift duck-blind, left up in a marshland for a year, sticking out like a tree in the middle of a desert and blocking the winds that save you from said predators, thus creating a basic headquarters and breeding grounds for them and other weird ass bugs.

Patchouli, dryer sheets, lemon grass, and 'Off' candles will be our only hope...

[formallydickman]

http://www.radiolab.org/story/kill-em-all/ is where I heard about it first...

[Azure]

the funny thing is they already tried making bugs to interfere with mosquitos the end result was swarms of ecologically toxic GMO bugs with no niche for decades here in FL until they died down

their called love bugs

finally their populations are dropping, but back in the 90's they were a menace

shits been going on for a long time and covered up constantly by universities and such

[BigHurb]

messing with invasive species is one thing, engineering a species that already is a transmission vector for human illness and releasing into the wild is crazy... at least with plants we can stop growing that plant... this just all seems like a really weird idea, when they have NO IDEA what to do with the extra people having less disease creates (so even success here creates failure, which is crazy).

anyhoo, im white, i live in northern latitudes with very low population. we grow most of our own food (chickens, cows, veges, etc) and make our own medicine (cannabis)... ill watch the world burn no worries. earthquake will get most of you.

[Azure]

naw... mothernature is a bit tougher than you think, those of us in touch will be doing alright

those living sterile lives full of antibiotics and surrounded by florescence and pumped full of processed sugars, starch, and food coloring will be toast

even plenty of smart people in the city who get outside on their patio and are careful what they eat will be fine. I can still find safe food in the markets near me

[Ahldagor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWbXQQG9B6c

[Orruar]

Why would Brazil want to fight a Cambodian pop band?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FxZk9QRKQc

[Ahldagor]

wish i could say it was nice knowing you all!

"the rate at which we transmit and analyze data is infinitesimal compared to how fast a computer can do it. Would they even want to bother?

Jeff Atwood takes a look at how a computer's timescale breaks down, and relates it to human timeframes. It's interesting to note the huge variance in latency. If we consider one CPU cycle to take 1 second, then a sending a ping across the U.S. would take the equivalent of 4 years. A simple conversation could take the equivalent of thousands of years. Would any consciousness be able to deal with such a relative delay?""

our brains are still faster right now. the trend is a logic line of moore's law mixed with some ad infinitum that a lot of science depends on, but the asymptote gets too close to the axis eventually; and then the line breaks down because the trustees of it lose their trust in it.

[Ahldagor]

stop making me feel better!

i think mostly this morality concept concerns me because it will be programmed, quantified IF's based on a known desired outcome, and it can shape towards that goal, but not really make decisions... and it will be a short step to analyze the .. scenarios... based on desired outcomes and how the data matches up.

humans dont match up... we're way too organic in all senses to do something like this. terrifying for the future people for sure, esp. when the machines are built with sophisticated protections to avoid their shutting down from offensive weapons or tactics.

crazy shit, gonna cause more problems than solutions.. humans are already the best machines, improve our protocols and connect us more, i say. machines should only facilitate that end. which is a mindfuck cause of course thats what people making skynet would say the machines are doing. weak dude!

need the truth machine that can detect human lies 100%. FORCE us to stop using part of our machinery, instead of changing everything by addition.

the truth machine is the only way. and the truth is harsh. better to know than not; and i will choose freedom over happiness. but im sick that way?

absolutely agree that we are not programmable machines. that's also a remnant of the logic line that descartes established with "cogito ergo sum" which is a metaphysical statement that doesn't acknowledge metaphysics in an honest nor ordinary way. people splice it to doubt but that distorts the entire thing because the notion itself is ego dependent while our existence wasn't willed out of mother's wombs.