This is how it started...

[Enkrypter]

Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever | Public Radio International

Some of the worst things ever created came from the minds of men with good intentions...

Ref., See: A-bomb, Communism, Obama care, and anything banned by the Geneva convention

 

[cosermann]

Oh, I'm sure we've foreseen all the possible ramifications of releasing a genetically modified organism in the environment.

Bring back DDT.

 

[88GT]

What's the alternative? Stop innovation because it might be mis-used for evil?

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

The Afracanized Honey Bee experiment went well.

 

[Enkrypter]

What's the alternative? Stop innovation because it might be mis-used for evil?

Nothing new has been innovated here and it already has been used for evil.

We've used bugs as weapons on a number of occasions. (Vietnam, Cuba, Africa, Afghanistan, all over South America, and even here in the USA just to name a few.)

Educate yourself on Operation Big Itch - 1954:
We Have Met the Enemy And They Are Small ? A Brief History of Bug Warfare |

And the history of bug warfare:
Entomological warfare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The point of this post is to discuss at what point are you comfortable with any of this? What's in Brazil today may be in your backyard next summer. In a few years it could be entirely possible that you receive an involuntary "FLU" vaccination from a friendly neighborhood mosquito. I know many people who feel very strongly about vaccinations. To some, it's considered against their religion.

This isn't simply an exercise of modern science, it's also an experiment in tolerance. I don't recall reading anywhere in that article where it asked the populous for their opinion or consent. I know people who refuse to eat GMO corn.

Like it or not, the technology is here to stay, but how we use it makes all the difference in the world. Historically, at the time we've noticed we've gone to far, it's been far too late. All I'm suggesting, is that there's more to this story than simply saying, "Oh look, their finally doing something cool with genetically modified mosquitoes in Brazil."

I'm cool with crops and table meat being GMO'd, but I'm not sure yet where I stand on tiny GMO'd flying hypodermic needles. It seems like there might be a lot that could go wrong.

Q: Why did I post this in the survival and disaster preparedness section?
A: Most of us wear tin-foil hats and i thought this might spark an interesting debate. I wanted to see how many people would say something about Zombies. (Plus I think it's just really cool science.)

 

[88GT]

Innovation is not limited to be creation of new "things" or technologies. The concept of genetic modification is not new. But the appliction of that science can be. My question stands: do we stop innovating because bad things could happen?

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Innovation is not limited to be creation of new "things" or technologies. The concept of genetic modification is not new. But the appliction of that science can be. My question stands: do we stop innovating because bad things could happen?

No, we don't stop innovating because bad things could happen.

Should we all feel like there's no possible down-side to releasing GMO insects?

 

[1861navy]

Innovation is not limited to be creation of new "things" or technologies. The concept of genetic modification is not new. But the appliction of that science can be. My question stands: do we stop innovating because bad things could happen?

A very good point and question. I'd say innovation itself is not the problem but, how we use it. While I disagree very strongly with genetic modification, I do feel it's something that could potentially help us, but is going to do more harm than good before we are ready to deal with the consequences. I also understand it's not anything new at all, but as you said the application is.

 

[Enkrypter]

do we stop innovating because bad things could happen?

I'm not suggesting we stop innovation, because someone will ALWAYS try to use something for evil.

Historically, some of the most incredible innovations in biotechnology, chemistry, engineering, and physics have been funded in some way by a military or despot.

"The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet." Wernher Von Braun - 1944, (describing his feelings on the successful attack of a V2 rocket hitting London)
Wernher Von Braun was the father of modern rocketry. We would never have been able to put a man on the moon without him, but his "innovations" have been used to kill millions of people since it's inception.

Do the benefits of satellite technologies, GPS, space exploration, lunar landings, and 0-G research out-weigh the millions of lives lost since rockets were first conceived?
I've been on a battlefield. Rockets enable communications that save lives, but also enable us to take them in mass quantity.

(I realize the irony of posting this on a firearms forum...)

Everything innovation comes with pros and cons. I just want to know, who who's going to keep score and speak up when the cons outweigh the pros? At some point someone may need to stop the egg from hatching into a man-eating chicken.

 

[jmiller676]

[video=youtube;ZcPqmCfJVdo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcPqmCfJVdo[/video]

 

[Enkrypter]

Pearlman is such a BA!

 

[TopDog]

Brazilians welcome genetically-modified mosquito to help fight dengue fever | Public Radio International

Some of the worst things ever created came from the minds of men with good intentions...

Ref., See: A-bomb, Communism, Obama care, and anything banned by the Geneva convention

The road of sorrow is paved with good intentions...

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

It's not nice to fool mother nature....

 

[OneShotFOGE]

The Robobee Project Is Building Flying Robots the Size of Insects - Scientific American

I for one welcome our new insect overlords!

 

[Khazik]

I imagine the repercussions of this, just absolutely mindlessly careless "advance", will involve the species that eat mosquitos and their larva to now require another source of food in the quantity they've adapted to. I predict populations falling in some species, which will lead to populations falling in larger species, then larger species, then on....

The "intellect" of humans never cease to amaze me.

 

[DanSwanky]

I think I read that they were originally created to fight the Godzilla threat but the project had been shelved in favor of that big moth creature.