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Fascinating that it has nothing to do with desire, which has tended to be our go-to as humans stretching back in particular to mythology and even antiquity (eg Aristotle IIRC: “things fall back to the ground because they have a desire to do so”)

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Under what conditions would you call this behavior "desire"? Would we need to demonstrate the impossible, that insects have a sense of self and free will?

Do insects desire food, or does the intensity of certain smells simply compel their mouth parts to start moving in a certain way?

You could still see it as a desire that is being highjacked by our artificial lights. It's an unintentionally wire heading, where our desire for light defeats the insects desire to trust it's 'instruments'.

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