This idea of controlling insects is dangerously stupid. We have done an absolutely horrible job of controlling nature so far and yet people keep trying and failing. People won't be happy until the earth looks the same as in the movie "The Matrix" scorched and barren
Yes, by several orders of magnitude. You can wipe out entire ecosystems if you mess around with insects, leading to mass famine and starvation. The "poison" we currently use is at least tested and regulated.
And worse yet, they are likely to start to do so with interventions that are broadly-effective across many species, not only a specific target.
IFF there is a way to specifically target, e.g., their first example, the corn rootworm, and extend diapause so the eggs hatch in winter, it would be an effective control and eradication method of a pest that explodes in population only in response to human farming.
However, if it has the same effect on a broad range of insects, the result will be not only fewer insects, it will be a lot of dead birds, who will lack a primary food source and a lot of fruitless crops which will go unpollinated.
And this is on top of the 70%-80% insect population loss we've already seen.
So, IFF it can be targeted with high specificity, and allow us to stop using broad-spectrum insecticides that kill everything including beneficial insects, it might be an advance. Otherwise, it's just more death from the skies for the ecosystem that supports every one of us.
This idea of controlling insects is dangerously stupid. We have done an absolutely horrible job of controlling nature so far and yet people keep trying and failing. People won't be happy until the earth looks the same as in the movie "The Matrix" scorched and barren
Possibly dangerous, but is it actually more stupid than lacing all farmland with poison, as is our current policy?
Yes, by several orders of magnitude. You can wipe out entire ecosystems if you mess around with insects, leading to mass famine and starvation. The "poison" we currently use is at least tested and regulated.
Yup.
And worse yet, they are likely to start to do so with interventions that are broadly-effective across many species, not only a specific target.
IFF there is a way to specifically target, e.g., their first example, the corn rootworm, and extend diapause so the eggs hatch in winter, it would be an effective control and eradication method of a pest that explodes in population only in response to human farming.
However, if it has the same effect on a broad range of insects, the result will be not only fewer insects, it will be a lot of dead birds, who will lack a primary food source and a lot of fruitless crops which will go unpollinated.
And this is on top of the 70%-80% insect population loss we've already seen.
So, IFF it can be targeted with high specificity, and allow us to stop using broad-spectrum insecticides that kill everything including beneficial insects, it might be an advance. Otherwise, it's just more death from the skies for the ecosystem that supports every one of us.