Firing lasers at mosquitoes is that animal cruelty ?

[noidentity]

They use lasers to remove parasites off of fish in fish farms.

[Caerule]

Everyone has their own view on morality. But from a bio-ethics point of view, you're in the clear.

By your description, your device works fast, and has notable benefits to humans. You are not committing undue cruelty, and not without purpose.
And even if you were, the life and suffering of insects is currently considered negligible. Much crueler things can be done to them, without the disapproval of your average professor or bioethics committee.

So the only thing you need to pay attention to is the impact of your device on the wellbeing of humans, as well as indirectly influenced other life-forms. From a bio-ethics point of view, you must work towards reduction of suffering in the world, where humans stand well above other mammals, and mammals above other vertebrae, who are well above most other creatures, when it comes to their perceived ability to suffer.

For example, if your machine was to give humans more emotional burden than relief in its function. For example if the mosquitoes were to produce a loud shrieking sound while incinerated reminiscent of agonizing death, then the emotional impact on observers of the device would be negative, due to being distressing. For most people, I don't think negative personal impact is perceived by the current function of your device. Mosquito death is quick, and mosquitoes and their larva do not yield much empathy from most people. The benefit for you seems significant. You want their infestation gone from a body of water, and your device accomplishes that, thus removing your burden.

Secondary concerns for example would be if you use this device on a pond, and by killing all the mosquitos, you deny a vital resource of the environment's predators, such as the frogs and fish, thus starving them, and the predators that in turn rely on them for food. That's where things get complex on the large scale. Because now your device, if used on this or larger scales, could be a great direct aid to people, removing pests and disease carriers. But also have negative consequences for local eco systems and fishing. For small human-made things like your fountain, this shouldn't be a factor.


In short, you should be fine. Even if I myself am not a fan of the death of creatures where avoidable, I'd be a hypocrite to disapprove of your device, as I frequently squish mosquitos, and have fed their larvae to my fish. And you're not doing anything a science professor should have grounds to disapprove of, according to the ethic standards of current society.

[Sky High]

"I want a fly swatter. with freaking LASER beams attached to it!"

[derpkitteh]

i doubt they feel any more pain than a bug zapper, it's probably instant.

not something i would do, i think, since i don't purposefully kill anything, even evil things like mosquitos. but i don't see a cruelty issue here.

mosquitos are one thing that i do believe we should purposefully make extinct. they cause too much suffering.

[Techno-Druid]

i doubt they feel any more pain than a bug zapper, it's probably instant.

not something i would do, i think, since i don't purposefully kill anything, even evil things like mosquitos. but i don't see a cruelty issue here.

mosquitos are one thing that i do believe we should purposefully make extinct. they cause too much suffering.

Mosquitoes pollinate flowers.

[Deleted]

Everyone has their own view on morality. But from a bio-ethics point of view, you're in the clear.

By your description, your device works fast, and has notable benefits to humans. You are not committing undue cruelty, and not without purpose.
And even if you were, the life and suffering of insects is currently considered negligible. Much crueler things can be done to them, without the disapproval of your average professor or bioethics committee.

So the only thing you need to pay attention to is the impact of your device on the wellbeing of humans, as well as indirectly influenced other life-forms. From a bio-ethics point of view, you must work towards reduction of suffering in the world, where humans stand well above other mammals, and mammals above other vertebrae, who are well above most other creatures, when it comes to their perceived ability to suffer.

For example, if your machine was to give humans more emotional burden than relief in its function. For example if the mosquitoes were to produce a loud shrieking sound while incinerated reminiscent of agonizing death, then the emotional impact on observers of the device would be negative, due to being distressing. For most people, I don't think negative personal impact is perceived by the current function of your device. Mosquito death is quick, and mosquitoes and their larva do not yield much empathy from most people. The benefit for you seems significant. You want their infestation gone from a body of water, and your device accomplishes that, thus removing your burden.

Secondary concerns for example would be if you use this device on a pond, and by killing all the mosquitos, you deny a vital resource of the environment's predators, such as the frogs and fish, thus starving them, and the predators that in turn rely on them for food. That's where things get complex on the large scale. Because now your device, if used on this or larger scales, could be a great direct aid to people, removing pests and disease carriers. But also have negative consequences for local eco systems and fishing. For small human-made things like your fountain, this shouldn't be a factor.


In short, you should be fine. Even if I myself am not a fan of the death of creatures where avoidable, I'd be a hypocrite to disapprove of your device, as I frequently squish mosquitos, and have fed their larvae to my fish. And you're not doing anything a science professor should have grounds to disapprove of, according to the ethic standards of current society.

Well that was a pretty interesting read

what is your background in bioethics?

- - - Updated - - -

i doubt they feel any more pain than a bug zapper, it's probably instant.

not something i would do, i think, since i don't purposefully kill anything, even evil things like mosquitos. but i don't see a cruelty issue here.

mosquitos are one thing that i do believe we should purposefully make extinct. they cause too much suffering.

Exterminate them and see how long till ecosystems collapse

[Bumbasta]

Dude, bring this thing on the market, please!

[Caerule]

Well that was a pretty interesting read

what is your background in bioethics?

My background is University-level Biology education. I went more lab-work DNA-Proteins with it in the end, but I took a 3 month course in Bioethics.
It started interesting, but didn't end up to my liking. Everything can be ethically justified by some way of thinking. People were just advocating nonsense by the end of it. I came there for a study in critical thought and judgement on the moral issues facing us today in the scientific community. Not so I could make a case for eating all the pandas. But yes, by all the moral perspectives currently maintained within the scientific community, you should be in the clear.

[derpkitteh]

Mosquitoes pollinate flowers.

other insects cover that. the mosquito serves no real purpose but to spread disease and death.

the like two species that prey on humans won't be missed. they're not a significant food source, they're not a significant pollinator, they do little else than continue the spread of horrific diseases that should be wiped out by now.

[Rustedsaint]

i doubt they feel any more pain than a bug zapper, it's probably instant.

not something i would do, i think, since i don't purposefully kill anything, even evil things like mosquitos. but i don't see a cruelty issue here.

mosquitos are one thing that i do believe we should purposefully make extinct. they cause too much suffering.

While we at let’s murder the last few bees species we at it, and maybe put a harpoon in every shark in the ocean, and let’s go shank every wolf in North America.

So turning of this stupidity for a min..... only 5% of mosquitos species feed on blood and only the females of those groups do
And we can’t single target a species

[Caerule]

other insects cover that. the mosquito serves no real purpose but to spread disease and death.

the like two species that prey on humans won't be missed. they're not a significant food source, they're not a significant pollinator, they do little else than continue the spread of horrific diseases that should be wiped out by now.

Unfortunately you may be vastly underestimating the amount of species that feed on humans, and their impact on the food chain.

The actual number of mosquito species you wish to wipe out would be over 100. (source)

And their role in the ecosystem is huge. A lot of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and other arthropods like dragonflies and spiders use them as a food source. And things feed on those too. The collapse of their populations, while probably not life-threatening to humans, could be impactful.

Now while mosquitos may not be a great idea to wipe out, I'm right there with you if you'd argue this about ticks and leeches.

[Zigrifid]

Fuck those lilliputian vamps ! shower them with the glory of red light !!!!

[Dellis0991]

They breed disease so kill with no mercy.

[Machismo]

I have no problem with this at all. I only hope that you make "pew pew" noises when you use it. If you aren't making sound effects, then you sure as shti better have some John Williams in the background.

[derpkitteh]

Unfortunately you may be vastly underestimating the amount of species that feed on humans, and their impact on the food chain.

The actual number of mosquito species you wish to wipe out would be over 100. (source)

And their role in the ecosystem is huge. A lot of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and other arthropods like dragonflies and spiders use them as a food source. And things feed on those too. The collapse of their populations, while probably not life-threatening to humans, could be impactful.

Now while mosquitos may not be a great idea to wipe out, I'm right there with you if you'd argue this about ticks and leeches.

ticks are another thing that should go. leeches don't really cause many problems that you hear about, it's always ticks and mosquitos.

there's plenty of things that don't spread horrible diseases that fish and shit can eat. mosquitos would not be missed by anything.

[Aitch]

Ok so I bought a CNC carver recently and it was bundled with a high power laser engraver that I don't really need yet.

Long story short I mounted it on 2 servo motors controlled with an arduino and a small joystick so it's basically a gimballed laser turret now and ive been using it to shoot the mosquito larvaes that invaded our fountain since the pump broke.

Now I'm kinda pleased with myself with this one and I've been thinking about using it as a university project where I'd replace the mcu by a computer and automate the target acquisition process with machine vision.

The laser is quite safe if you wear protective clothing but it completely destroys the larva from nice distances and they emit some smoke if they're on the surface so I don't think they feel any kind of pain at all they most likely die instantly.

I'm not gonna lie I don't really give 2 shits about the mosquitoes I'm just concerned about the fact that it could be considered animal cruelty thus illegal or just badly received by the professor. I can spin it as a device to prevent blood borne diseases in remote areas but not sure that will pass.

Best paragraph ever written on Gen OT.

[Deleted]

Fuck those lilliputian vamps ! shower them with the glory of red light !!!!

Mine's blue but yeah that's the spirit

Alright maybe I'll do a video then

[Deleted]

You monster! You should be in jail.

[Drutt]

Video of the finished product in action please!

PEW PEW!

Bonus points if you can mount the turret onto a toy shark's head.

[Vash The Stampede]

Here I am wanting to use a gene driver to eliminate mosquitoes from the planet earth entirely. At least the ones that go after humans. You worried about a laser turret?