From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jul 14 2003 - 15:56:19 MDT
Extropes,
Ok. I've waited to see where this would go, now it's
time for my two cents.
Fix:
7. a. To correct or set right; adjust; enhance
b. To restore to proper condition or working order;
repair
The negatives associated with mosquitoes are; pain,
irritation, disease transmission, misappropriation of
blood, and general annoyance, in particular that
ninighttimeuzzing-around-your-head thing that keeps
you awake and makes you feel so helpless and
frustrated that you either get out of bed, turn on the
lights, and search fruitlessly for the little bugger,
or lie in the dark and slap yourself silly until your
ears are ringing so bad you can no longer hear the
buzzing.
Okay now. One by one.
Pain: genetically modify the 'drilling protocol' so as
to detect and avoid nerve endings.
Irritation: genetically modify for production of
hypo-allergenic saliva.
Disease transmission: from the larger mosquito gene
pool select and splice in the genes for those
characteristics which preclude the harboring of the
relevant disease organisms.
Noise/annoyance: "stealthy" (ie quieter) wing design,
possibly augmented by an approach-only-when-asleep
protocol.
Finally--and this will address the blood
mis-appropriation issue as well-- it's always a good
idea when confronted with a seemingly 'negative'
condition, to look beyond the 'problem'. Set aside
your biases. Perhaps there are some unexpected
benefits hidden, or even just lying about nearby.
"Kill two birds with one stone." "Glass half full."
"Change a negative to a positive." That kind of
thing.
A mosquito is at once a hypodermic delivery and a
blood sampling system. What would be good to
deliver:drugs, vitamins, vaccines, anti-bodies,
genetic therapies/enhancements. What universe of
benefits could derive from blood sampling and
analysis? Could the mosquito be designed to seek out
and treat, say, melanoma? Or detect blood-borne
indicators of pathology? Etc? A sweet synergy indeed
when the fuel for the 'analyzer' is the sample itself.
Ample compensation for a microscopic (no longer
mis-)appropriation of your blood.
Rehabilitate the former bad boy (girl, actually).
Enlist her talents. Make her a friend and ally.
Babepower!, there's no stopping it. We were all
female once--some still are, thankyouverymuch--before
the Y chromosome intervened.
Like that there.
Best, Jeff Davis
"When I am working on a problem I never think about
beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem.
But when I have finished, if the solution is not
beautiful, I know it is wrong."
- Buckminster Fuller
--- Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 12, 2003 at 11:44:04PM -0700, Spike
> wrote:
> > Damien Broderick:
> > What some people seem not to have noticed is that
> Anders' suggestion
> > requires that you *don't* kill the ones that fall
> for the trap; you
> > sterilize them and send them on their way,
> presumably on the grounds
> > that mozzies might serve a host of ecologically
> significant functions,
> > so it's not wise to just exterminate them all and
> let god sort them out.
> > Just breed a dominant clade that dislikes human
> smells and blood.
> >
> > Of course, this solution might be interpreted by
> > some misguided souls as cruelty to animals. spike
>
> Sure. Childless mosquito couples are a tragedy, much
> worse than
> killed mosquitoes. But mosquito scientists are
> working on in vitro
> hatching.
>
> I just realized that the biggest fault in my scheme
> is that I
> actually have to let the mosquitoes bite me and
> escape unscatched
> for it to work! Talk about cruelty to animals - me!
> They are
> violating my self-ownership! My blood is mine! All
> mine! :-)
>
>
> --
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Anders Sandberg
> Towards Ascension!
> asa@nada.kth.se
> http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
> GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/*
> f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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