How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Ducky M) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:25:50 GMT

Perhaps we can agree that, in order for human beings to be successful, their behavior in high-population-density environments needs to be more disciplined than their behavior in low-population-density environments needs to be.

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Ducky M) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:47:39 GMT

Besides reading Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse!, I once attended a lecture by Jared Diamond at Caltech.

So agriculture is responsible for human epidemics to the extent that agriculture made high population densities possible. But there are certainly factors responsible for epidemics other than high population densities -- such as...

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Elkhorn2) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:19:45 GMT

Extracts/Excerpt from Chapter 11 of Guns, Germs and Steel:

http://evomech5.blogspot.com/2007/01/guns-germs-and-steel-short-history-of.html

The major killers of humanity throughout our recent history - smallpox, flu, tuberculosis,...

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Ducky M) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:32:30 GMT

Elkhorn2 wrote:
... smallpox - a viral disease created by man's adoption of agriculture.

How so? Was the smallpox virus -- like the HIV virus and the rabies virus -- originally acquired from other animal species? But did it have anything to do with the raising of crops? The...

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Dannytoro) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:19:33 GMT

..........And remember Sear, it's only the female Mosquito that bites........

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Elkhorn2) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:37:47 GMT

Sear,

Bringing about the extinction of 3,000 + species of mosquitoes that are essential to our food chain cannot be compared to controlling smallpox - a viral disease created by man's adoption of agriculture.

Are you asking me if we should try to eliminate the varroa mite with genetic engineering? Two answers:

We should not try to eliminate any naturally occurring species.

We should not be creating any kind of genetically modified organisms in the...

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (sear) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:44:27 GMT

Elk,
We seem to have done pretty well eradicating Smallpox.

Can you think of anything else?

The veroa mite perhaps?

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Ducky M) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:39:21 GMT

Mosquito nets and mosquito repellents (non-flurocarbon-based), or move to the desert and stay out of the way of scorpions and rattlesnakes.

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Elkhorn2) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:11:02 GMT

Eliminate mosquitoes?

Mosquitoes pollinate many plants around the world. Mosquitoes provide essential food for fish, frogs, bats, birds, beneficial insects, and a lot of other life.

Eliminate mosquitoes and you will find yourself on a dead planet.

Re: How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (Ducky M) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:42:59 GMT

Perhaps, ultimately, the viruses will be calling the shots.

Or the quarks. Or the dark energy.

In spite of Einstein's opinion, perhaps it's all a craps game. With loaded dice.

How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

feeds@yuku.com (sear) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:26:44 GMT

How far in our future (if at all) is the genetic silver bullet?

We've long known that our honey bee population is in alarming decline.
It seems they face a variety of adversities.

But is there in this grey cloud, a silver lining?

Every species on Earth is genetically different from every other species on Earth. Right?

Well, it seems the honey bees have particular genetic vulnerabilities.

What about mosquitoes? Don't they have a...