NationStates Jolt Archive


Wiping out Roaches...

Khudros
06-08-2005, 01:21
I was puffing on a cigar next to a building a few days back and noticed a lot of annoying cockroaches crawling all over the walls and ground near me. Being randomly ponderous I got to speculating...

Supposing tomorrow an eccentric dictator were to gain control over all of civilization and decide that his contribution to humanity would be the extermination of the world's cockroaches. And suppose he could harness all of humanity's resources and ingenuity towards accomplishing this goal. Ignoring the likelihood of this actually happening, would such a task even be possible?

Keep in mind that leaving just a few of the little guys alive would amount to failure. We would have to either get into every nook and cranny out there or come up with some other clever solution like a genetically engineered roachphage.

So what do you think? Could we wipe out all the roaches?
Oxwana
06-08-2005, 01:26
I was puffing on a cigar next to a building a few days back and noticed a lot of annoying cockroaches crawling all over the walls and ground near me. Being randomly ponderous I got to speculating...

Supposing tomorrow an eccentric dictator were to gain control over all of civilization and decide that his contribution to humanity would be the extermination of the world's cockroaches. And suppose he could harness all of humanity's resources and ingenuity towards accomplishing this goal. Ignoring the likelihood of this actually happening, would such a task even be possible?

Keep in mind that leaving just a few of the little guys alive would amount to failure. We would have to either get into every nook and cranny out there or come up with some other clever solution like a genetically engineered roachphage.

So what do you think? Could we wipe out all the roaches?No. They could surviive a fucking nuclear winter. Nothing that we could do could ever exterminate them. Has anyone read that short story in Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine called "Vacuum Seals" ( I think)?
Oxwana
06-08-2005, 01:27
I was puffing on a cigar...What kind of cigar?
Pure Metal
06-08-2005, 01:29
napalm the entire surface of the earth, boil off the atmosphere and expose the surface to deadly radiation from the sun. then set off all the world's nuclear arsenal at once and destroy the planet! break it up into pieces that will float forever, spinning frozen through the cosmos! that'll kill em all ;)


you didn't say "without wiping out all other life on earth", or words to that effect...




or, slightly less crazy, we could just genetically engineer a tailor made deadly virus that only kills cockroaches but which every other living thing on the planet can be a carrier of, unaffected. that might do it too
Vetalia
06-08-2005, 01:33
napalm the entire surface of the earth, boil off the atmosphere and expose the surface to deadly radiation from the sun. then set off all the world's nuclear arsenal at once and destroy the planet! break it up into pieces that will float forever, spinning frozen through the cosmos! that'll kill em all ;)


you didn't say "without wiping out all other life on earth", or words to that effect...

Yes, because that is clearly the superior option to taking out the can of Raid or calling the exterminator once in a while. :p
Pure Metal
06-08-2005, 01:36
Yes, because that is clearly the superior option to taking out the can of Raid or calling the exterminator once in a while. :p
of course! why kill a few when you can wipe out everything?!

http://www.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/16/250px-Mad_scientist_caricature.png
mwuhahahhaa!
Eichen
06-08-2005, 01:38
No. They'll be here long after we are gone. Most likely until the sun swallows the solar system and goes supernova.

No. They could surviive a fucking nuclear winter. Nothing that we could do could ever exterminate them. Has anyone read that short story in Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine called "Vacuum Seals" ( I think)?
The title reminds me of a story on CreepShow about an old crabby bastard with germ phobia living in a perfectly sanitized apartment. In the end, he literally is smothered, and drowns in roaches.
Jah Bootie
06-08-2005, 01:38
Anything can be done, but the law of unintended consequences comes into effect. One shudders to imagine the awful holocaust that the existence of cockroaches holds back.
Pure Metal
06-08-2005, 01:39
:eek: what if they fight back? :eek:
Sabbatis
06-08-2005, 01:42
They're like terrorists. You can kill a lot of them and keep them under control, but you'll never get them all. It's unreasonable to expect 100%, and the law of diminishing returns suggests that it would be too expensive to try.
Vetalia
06-08-2005, 01:45
:eek: what if they fight back? :eek:

That's why nuking them is not a good idea...

Actually, I'd be more scared of a swarm of scarabs than a swarm of cockroaches; they can't burrow in to you. Yet...
Khudros
06-08-2005, 01:48
What kind of cigar?

Peruvian :D.
I don't smoke all that often, even though I live in North Carolina where tobacco just about grows on trees.
Pure Metal
06-08-2005, 01:51
Actually, I'd be more scared of a swarm of scarabs than a swarm of cockroaches; they can't burrow in to you. Yet...
watch it... you might give the crazy dude in post #6 some bad ideas ;)
Oxwana
06-08-2005, 01:52
Peruvian :D.Never smoked a Peruvian cigar before...
How was it?