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Doing Good By Doing Harm?
FairyFeller
Veteran
I paused today before swatting a mosquito today due to a thought passing through.
If I could find a way to eliminate all mosquito's I would ultimately save billions of lives and prevent an imense amount of suffering but at the same time I would be taking trillions of six legged lives.
I acknowledge that suffering and death is a part of life but it is a thought process I chose to live by and would it be such a bad thing to do the harm that would ultimately be for the good?
If I could find a way to eliminate all mosquito's I would ultimately save billions of lives and prevent an imense amount of suffering but at the same time I would be taking trillions of six legged lives.
I acknowledge that suffering and death is a part of life but it is a thought process I chose to live by and would it be such a bad thing to do the harm that would ultimately be for the good?
0
Comments
_/\_
I guess, for me, the discussion seems to imply that by killing trillions of other beings, it would save some human beings (which overpopulate that planet as it is), and then maybe it is ok. On a personal/emotional level, of course no one wants to see other people suffer from disease, especially when many are so preventable and treatable with cheap medicines that just aren't available everywhere. But on a more logical level, I'm never convinced that making any wide-sweeping ecological change in favor of more humans living (or living longer) is the best thing to do. I am not heartless, I promise, but it seems more along the natural order of things for people to die of mosquito-borne diseases than it is for all the animals that die so we can have more pesticides and more bigger houses, and so on. That's simplifying quite a lot of course, but on a basic level. We cause far more harm to the world around us (and thus to ourselves as a result) than mosquitoes cause, on a grand scale, even though the suffering can be immense.
In some areas of the US, more than 30% of the bee population has died off over the winter in the past few years.
In comparison, about 2 million people or so die each year due to diseases spread by mosquitoes. Of our 7+ billion people this comes to what .03% of the population?
I'm not saying mosquitoes or bees are more important than people. But when we overlook the important of the tiny, ugly, annoying creatures at the bottom of the food scale we ignore our own health and survival as well. It's just good to keep perspective.
That said, with mosquitoes in particular, there are only like 200 out of over 3000 species of mosquitoes that actually bite humans and can spread disease so if we had a way to only rid the planet of the ones that spread disease or bite humans, it probably wouldn't have a major impact in most areas. But, this would vary some. In my state, there are 50 species. Almost 30 of them bite humans. Getting rid of them would have a harmful effect on the small bird and bat population, at least initially.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser
Good luck :rarr:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_laser
Good luck :rarr:
Maybe we could instigate a kill one mossie and sponsor two butterflies? :screwy:
' How arrogant of man to think he is the
species that deserves to live more than any other on this planet
.'
Man is the product of evolution, not by our own design.
In the last 100 years or so, man has dominated the planet.
Look around you, do you ever wonder if the earth would be better
off without homo sapiens?
is it online?
We could be the only way Earth is able to share information with other planets. We may have a lot of learning to do still but we are getting there.
The Earth may be better off without us? That doesn't make any sense as we (not just homo sapiens but all of us) ARE the Earth.
Homo sapiens are going through a phase where we are too smart for our own good but it just might lead to an awakening.
[existentialism] Like it or not, the human beings represent only one participating species in a much larger and diverse ecosystem. The crucial matter lies not in whether humanity (as a separate species) continues or not, but whether or not we will act responsibly in a way that acknowledges that broader ecological context. That choice belongs to us, and we cannot evade it. Defining "humans = bad" oversimplifies the issue just as much as "human = good" does. Our choices matter, not positing some blanket fixed characteristic of "humanity." [/existentialism]
Forest monks learn quickly how to deal with mosquitos by dealing with the emotions and the anger that arises when a mosquito is buzzing in your ear.
Do not place your life as being more important than the mosquitos, after all, are we not both trying to do the same thing. Trying to get from one moment to the next.
When I go out in the woods with my husband, the mosquitoes are so attracted to him that I don't even need to use bug spray, they leave me almost entirely alone. I can be right next to him and he'll be covered in them. He also reacts much more strongly to their stings though that has improved and I think is a result of him not growing up here.
They are currently testing a patch that basically blocks mosquitoes from sensing the CO2 you emit as you breath (this is kind of what bug sprays too, but they confused the senses of the mosquito rather than block them entirely...but less effectively and with health risks to us). If it passes the trials and eventually is available, it'll be a game changer in the world of mosquito-borne disease.
I do kill mosquitoes in my tent because trying to gently remove them just allows more mosquitoes to gain entry during the removal procedure.
But
I also assume that all life here is a balance of pros & cons.
Diseases are easily tracked to mosquitoes but I do wonder what long term benefits also accrue from them since they certainly have been around longer than humans.
All I know for sure is that we don't presently know enough to formulate what harm is allowable when that ultimate good you mention is unknown.
I am not offended by this neglect..
One of my rewarding fundraisers.....
Nothing But Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to fight malaria, a leading cause of death among children in Africa.
They work with UN partners like UNICEF, the UN Refugee Agency, and the World Health Organization to purchase nets, transport them to Africa, and distribute them to families. Net distributions are typically part of a wider public health effort within a country coordinated by the Ministry of Health, the UN and other local and international organizations.
--http://www.nothingbutnets.net/about-us/