• 'Cockroach Backpack' App Scheduled for Release. Scientists Buttfrustrated.
    128 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Explosions;42806885]This post demonstrates a complete ignorance of the function of ecosystems.[/QUOTE] clever. Make one post that says that rats, mosquitoes, and cockroaches need to go extinct, and people generalize it by pointing out that the poster knows nothing about how ecosystems function. My argument stands because without mosquitoes for instance, we'll be out around 5 million deaths a year and 25-30 million cases of long-term hospitalization, not to mention the billions in healthcare costs it would save. Please enlighten me on what place a parasitic biting insect is supposed to have in the ecosystem that doesn't cause direct or indirect harm to the life around it. The Black Death spread to Europe via shipboard travel of Norwegian rats, carrying fleas along with them, among other causes. Hell, even fleas need to take off from existence, for the other stuff they carry. And thanks to the Black Death, Europe was out some 75-200 million estimated deaths. Ecosystems aren't going to collapse completely if you remove parasitic insects from the equation. Cockroaches may just be scavengers, but it's because they scavenge so much that they can pick up all kinds of diseases, which get transmitted to anything they come in contact with directly or indirectly. They're also one of the most resilient organisms in all of nature, being postulated as the only organism that might be capable of surviving the effects of a nuclear blast relatively unharmed. Frankly it's useful as research potential just to proof mankind against the effects of nukes in the future.
It's a cool concept, but while most people are ok with squishing bugs, I personally couldn't see myself stabbing loadsa holes in a lil bug mindin' its own business, even if it is making a mess.
[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;42807291]clever. Make one post that says that rats, mosquitoes, and cockroaches need to go extinct, and people generalize it by pointing out that the poster knows nothing about how ecosystems function. My argument stands because without mosquitoes for instance, we'll be out around 5 million deaths a year and 25-30 million cases of long-term hospitalization, not to mention the billions in healthcare costs it would save. Please enlighten me on what place a parasitic biting insect is supposed to have in the ecosystem that doesn't cause direct or indirect harm to the life around it. The Black Death spread to Europe via shipboard travel of Norwegian rats, carrying fleas along with them, among other causes. Hell, even fleas need to take off from existence, for the other stuff they carry. And thanks to the Black Death, Europe was out some 75-200 million estimated deaths. Ecosystems aren't going to collapse completely if you remove parasitic insects from the equation. Cockroaches may just be scavengers, but it's because they scavenge so much that they can pick up all kinds of diseases, which get transmitted to anything they come in contact with directly or indirectly. They're also one of the most resilient organisms in all of nature, being postulated as the only organism that might be capable of surviving the effects of a nuclear blast relatively unharmed. Frankly it's useful as research potential just to proof mankind against the effects of nukes in the future.[/QUOTE] Food for predators (Frogs, for example) that would have to feed more on other insects to fill in the void left by the disappearance of mosquitoes, thus causing strain on a different species which may have other effects. Either that or if the mosquito was the main foodstuff the hypothetical frogs ate (unlikely) then their population would suffer die off and their carrying capacity would be lowered. This would then cascade down to whatever feeds on the frogs. Everything in nature has a cause and effect, not matter how little or big.
I'm pretty sure I read a book ages ago, like at least 10 years ago, about this. Where the main character used roaches to invade his next door neighbors house because he won 40 billion dollars or something.
[QUOTE=OvB;42807344]Food for predators (Frogs, for example) that would have to feed more on other insects to fill in the void left by the disappearance of mosquitoes, thus causing strain on a different species which may have other effects. Either that or if the mosquito was the main foodstuff the hypothetical frogs ate (unlikely) then their population would suffer die off and their carrying capacity would be lowered. This would then cascade down to whatever feeds on the frogs. Everything in nature has a cause and effect, not matter how little or big.[/QUOTE] so basically similar to the plankton death cascade effect around the time of the last Ice Age - the weather caused entire populations to perish, and with the basis of the food chain gone, most sea life pretty much bit the dust as a result. Dying plants as a result of the temperature changes caused shortages in food for plant-eating dinosaurs, which then, becoming fewer and fewer in number, caused the meat-eaters to suffer as well as a result. Thus it was that the tiny mammals, the erstwhile underdogs in the food chain, scurried out of the shadows to take over the places vacated by the dinosaurs. I still say that even if it causes a slight lowering of biodiversity, we can do without carriers of diseases. It's pretty much my stand on the issue as such.
If Australians did this to their spider population they could take over the world with them.
[QUOTE=Computrix;42807551]If Australians did this to their spider population they could take over the world with them.[/QUOTE] The idea of remote-controlled huntsman spiders arouses all sorts of terror in my head.
come on people I mean I'm for animal rights and all but nothing that can survive without a head counts as an animal.
[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;42807643]come on people I mean I'm for animal rights and all but nothing that can survive without a head counts as an animal.[/QUOTE] But cockroaches are already arthropods, not exactly animals :v:
[QUOTE=Computrix;42807551]If Australians did this to their spider population they could take over the world with them.[/QUOTE] brazil and australia for next world superpowers, we take the west, you take the east :v: [IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00UGKZhyVjY/T9etdu4lFgI/AAAAAAAAAVA/Qw7fh0mgRro/s1600/818800-original.jpeg[/IMG] [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Atrax_robustus.jpg[/IMG]
Rated funny and then discovered those aren't plastic toys but real dead insects. Quite disgusting and weird.
Would you guys have a problem with the same roach being stepped on? Is it a problem when thousands are killed by pest control? No? So why is a couple of roaches being used for experiments so unimaginably disturbing? What do you think is going on in thousands of laboratory environments every day?
[QUOTE=RichyZ;42806796]we invented pussy[/QUOTE] No. No we didn't. Evolution beat us to that punch a long time ago.
As cruel as this is. Imagine having like 1000 of these. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG6JrqFARRY[/media] 02:51
[QUOTE=demoguy08;42808320]Would you guys have a problem with the same roach being stepped on? Is it a problem when thousands are killed by pest control? No? So why is a couple of roaches being used for experiments so unimaginably disturbing? What do you think is going on in thousands of laboratory environments every day?[/QUOTE] It's not being used for experiments, it's being marketed as a toy / educational tool for kids. I'm sorry but I don't like the idea of kids getting used to animal torture and using animals as toys (even if this particular insect doesn't feels anything), drilling holes in them and using sandpaper on their heads.
[QUOTE=Mr._N;42807031]If we got rid of mosquitos, there actually wouldn't be any major repercussions. [url]http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html?s=news_rss[/url][/QUOTE]Can we make an airborne virus for mosquitoes or something to kill them? We're going to have a terrible season for mossies this summer and it's already starting.
[QUOTE=Badballer;42808394]Can we make an airborne virus for mosquitoes or something to kill them? We're going to have a terrible season for mossies this summer and it's already starting.[/QUOTE] Currently there are experiments going on that release sterile mosquitos into the wild and attempting breeding control that way, but a virus that could be capable of killing them is still a ways off.
[QUOTE=latin_geek;42806825]scientists regularly test drugs/tech on rats before it's deemed safe for testing on humans so I don't see how cockroaches are going that much further (fuck cockroaches)[/QUOTE] Lets enslave a being for our entertainment, what's wrong with that?
On the Subject of Insects people want removed, who's for doing this to wasps? (You may leave your Metal Gear references here) I would not weep for dead wasps, bee's basically do their job and are nicer about it, I'm all for giving bee's a leg up, poor things are struggling to get by as it.
[QUOTE=Computrix;42807551]If Australians did this to their spider population they could take over the world with them.[/QUOTE] We had some expeditions to grab some spiders. None returned.
[QUOTE=kattolil;42808435]Lets enslave a being for our entertainment, what's wrong with that?[/QUOTE] I wouldn't argue this point, but what about domestic cats and dogs? What are they other than slaves for human entertainment?
[QUOTE=HazzaHardie;42808464]I wouldn't argue this point, but what about domestic cats and dogs? What are they other than slaves for human entertainment?[/QUOTE] well, dogs were(and still are) historically used to aid humans in myriad of things, not just "entertainment", there is a reason dog fighting is a crime across much of the planet. and cats aren't slaves lol, they do whatever the fuck they want, you ever tried getting a cat to do something it doesn't feel like doing? :v: also both are viewed as companions, not slaves, dogs especially.
[QUOTE=kattolil;42808435]Lets enslave a being for our entertainment, what's wrong with that?[/QUOTE] To be fair, humanity has done FAR worse things in that department already.
[QUOTE=thisguy123;42808536]To be fair, humanity has done FAR worse things in that department already.[/QUOTE] such as enslaving each other.
[QUOTE=thisguy123;42808536]To be fair, humanity has done FAR worse things in that department already.[/QUOTE] So because we did it to humans means it makes it ok to do it on lesser cognitive beings? Double standards errywhere.
[QUOTE=booster;42808363]As cruel as this is. Imagine having like 1000 of these. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG6JrqFARRY[/media] 02:51[/QUOTE] and for anyone who didn't watch this movie, this video will make it even clearer why this song fits the thread very well [video=youtube;Ocm8QdNR_d8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocm8QdNR_d8[/video]
[QUOTE=HazzaHardie;42808464]I wouldn't argue this point, but what about domestic cats and dogs? What are they other than slaves for human entertainment?[/QUOTE] I dunno about you but I don't drill holes into my dogs head and start shoving wires into his brain.
[QUOTE=Computrix;42807551]If Australians did this to their spider population they could take over the world with them.[/QUOTE] We already have, you just don't know it yet
yeah i'm sorry I really dont care about harming cockroaches
Quite icky and disgusting but i imagine it would be fun
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