0:02 [SPEAKER_00]: utopia. 0:04 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a world we dream of. 0:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Everything's peaceful and harmonious. 0:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Every single need is met. 0:13 [SPEAKER_00]: It is perfect until it isn't. 0:18 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes paradise isn't quite what it seems. 0:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And beneath its surface lies the darkness, a storm that's brewing. 0:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back friend to hometown history, and today's episode will see what happens when paradise turns into chaos. 0:43 [SPEAKER_00]: When perfection gives way to disorder, in harmony, crumbles. 0:49 [SPEAKER_00]: This is exactly what happened in a groundbreaking experiment that shook the scientific community. 1:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we are aware of the pace, with which the world's population has grown over the last few centuries. 1:11 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, even just in a few decades, we have grown from 1 billion in 1804 to more than 8 billion now, so naturally as numbers grew. 1:23 [SPEAKER_00]: There was also an increase in the concerns among people about the dangers of overpopulation 1:33 [SPEAKER_00]: one theorist on this matter was Robert Thomas Malthus, whose idea was that at some point population growth would dangerously outpace the availability of resources. 1:47 [SPEAKER_00]: He said that this was because the population rose exponentially while food supply or resources grow in a linear pattern. 1:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Now what does that mean? 1:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's say you have 10 people. 2:02 [SPEAKER_00]: In each of them has a certain number of children. 2:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Those children will grow up and have even more children. 2:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Leading to an exponential increase and population over time. 2:13 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, linear growth means that something increases at a steady rate over time. 2:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Resources like food, water and land, often grow in a linear pattern, because they are limited. 2:27 [SPEAKER_00]: There's only so much to go around. 2:31 [SPEAKER_00]: So we grow quickly, but the resources cannot keep up with our speed. 2:36 [SPEAKER_00]: So then the assumption was that if resources were scarce, our numbers but also lower, because there would be a natural decrease due to starvation or bad quality of life. 2:49 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have to tell you that didn't happen. 2:53 [SPEAKER_00]: With advances in medicine, as well as farming technology, we were able to produce more 3:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, not everyone. 3:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Now amidst these concerns, a behavioral researcher named John Calhoun, in the 1970s, posed a different question, what if there was a perfect world, a society where all our needs are met, will it continue to be harmonious, or are there other factors that determine peace in a society? 3:29 [SPEAKER_00]: So to answer this, he conducted an experiment in 1968, the Rat Utopia Experiment. 3:39 [SPEAKER_00]: In this study, Calhoun created a mouse utopia known as Universe 25. 3:46 [SPEAKER_00]: It was basically a morality inhibiting environment for mice, which was a 101 by 101 inch cage for these animals to be placed in during the study. 3:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Since it had to be the perfect environment, there was abundant food, water, and nesting material. 4:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Other than that, the cage was often cleaned, had a stable temperature of 68 degrees or 20 degrees Celsius, and there was no danger present. 4:18 [SPEAKER_00]: So it was an idea of a paradise. 4:22 [SPEAKER_00]: The goal here was to provide them with this perfect environment, which could maintain their well-being and allow them to mate. 4:39 [SPEAKER_00]: So once he had the cage, he carefully selected four breeding pairs of mice from the elite breeding colony of the National Institute of Health to make sure they were healthy and disease free. 4:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Once they were placed in the cage, the mice had access to 16 food hoppers and water bottles, ensuring their needs were always met without any need to search for them. 5:05 [SPEAKER_00]: So with all his measures in place, the experiment seemed successful, at least in the beginning. 5:14 [SPEAKER_00]: The mice were comfortable, which meant they had started mating, and the population was doubling, approximately every 55 days. 5:24 [SPEAKER_00]: But things did not stay that harmonious for long. 5:28 [SPEAKER_00]: By day number 315, the population was around 620. 5:33 [SPEAKER_00]: This meant that space once used by four mice was now the home of over 600. 5:40 [SPEAKER_00]: And with so many mice crammed into the space, there was intense competition for resources, like food, water, and territory. 5:51 [SPEAKER_00]: This led to stress and aggression among the male mice, who struggled to defend their territories against numerous competitors. 5:59 [SPEAKER_00]: And in some cases, this led to violent encounters among them, and even instances of cannibalism. 6:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Now this was not true for all the male rats. 6:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of them found this constant battle exhausting, and they eventually gave up, which in 6:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite these issues, the population continued to grow, but the rate of that growth was slowing down. 6:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike the initial form mice, the new generations of mice were born into a world where meaningful social roles were scarce. 6:39 [SPEAKER_00]: The lack of defined roles disrupted the normal discourse within the community, which basically means that there were too many mice in the environment and not enough specific tasks or roles for them to perform. 6:54 [SPEAKER_00]: This caused confusion and chaos among the mice. 6:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Without clear roles, the mice struggled to communicate effectively with each other in established meaning for connections. 7:08 [SPEAKER_00]: and emits this chaos, an odd group of male mice emerged, which cow whom called the beautiful ones. 7:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike the other mice, they showed no interest in mating or fighting. 7:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, they focused solely on basic needs, like eating, sleeping, and grooming. 7:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Basically, they were just isolating themselves. 7:31 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, female mice were overwhelmed by the chaos, so they retreated to isolated nesting boxes, on the upper levels of the cage, and an attempt to try to find some peace and refuge from the competition and aggression below. 7:48 [SPEAKER_00]: So the mice were responding to the chaos in their own ways, each adding to the breakdown of the social order in that universe. 7:58 [SPEAKER_00]: And with this breakdown, there came a surge in disturbing behaviors like cannibalism and violence, but also asexuality. 8:08 [SPEAKER_00]: This hinted that the collapse of the mouse society was now inevitable. 8:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Chaos continued as the days went by, and on day 560, the population peaked at 2,200, far beyond what this cage could sustain. 8:29 [SPEAKER_00]: This meant that survival became increasingly difficult for the mice, ultimately lowering mating behaviors, soon there were a few pregnancies and no surviving young after day 600. 8:43 [SPEAKER_00]: This meant the population would now start decreasing, and with that, the path to extinction became clear. 8:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Many mice, including the beautiful ones, and isolated females, had lost the social ability to reproduce, sealing the fate of the colony. 9:04 [SPEAKER_00]: The last conception occurred on day 920. 9:08 [SPEAKER_00]: and the last Mao's died on May 23, 1973, which marked the end of the four year, in ten month period. 9:18 [SPEAKER_00]: The experiment was over, the questions it prompted stayed. 9:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Calhoun reflected on the fall of this society, noting that they had experienced two deaths, 9:38 [SPEAKER_00]: which had occurred long before the second one, which was the physical demise of their bodies. 9:44 [SPEAKER_00]: In his seminal paper, population density and social pathology. 9:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Calhoun concluded the findings of his studies, saying that once the number of individuals exceed the available social roles, violence and disruptions are inevitable. 10:02 [SPEAKER_00]: He coined the term behavioral sink to describe this phenomenon, which was the idea that overcrowding and excessive social interaction led to social breakdown and extinction 10:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the impact of this study was immense because it associated with human society. 10:23 [SPEAKER_00]: As he published his work a lot of people were inspired by it, which led to journal articles, films, and even children's storybooks, based on these ideas. 10:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Biologists Paul Ehrlich's book, The Population Boom, was published around the same time as the study. 10:42 [SPEAKER_00]: And it also predicted catastrophic consequences of overpopulation on Earth, setting a tone of alarm. 10:50 [SPEAKER_00]: This theme was also seen in movies, like Silent Green, which showed overcrowded cities, facing scarcity, and societal collapse. 11:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Even Calhoun himself came up with possible solutions to avoid such a future for humans, focusing on the use of technology and advancement. 11:11 [SPEAKER_00]: But despite this initial popularity though, people started wandering if this study would actually apply to human behavior. 11:20 [SPEAKER_00]: This started with the research of psychologist Jonathan Friedman, who conducted experiments 11:31 [SPEAKER_00]: This experiment also aimed at measuring the effects on density on human behavior. 11:38 [SPEAKER_00]: But this time, the subjects were high school and university students. 11:43 [SPEAKER_00]: In the findings of this, created some doubt about the results of the Rat Utopia experiment. 11:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Friedman concluded that there were no significant negative effects of density on the behavior of the subjects. 11:59 [SPEAKER_00]: How could that be? 12:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Was it possible that the problem did not lie in overcrowding, but in the subject's mental capacity to deal with it? 12:09 [SPEAKER_00]: That was one of the most important questions that came forward. 12:13 [SPEAKER_00]: And based on that, some people now argue that the collapse may have resulted from excessive social interaction rather than simply overcrowding. 12:30 [SPEAKER_00]: But what is interesting is that the study still continues to guide the perspectives of many people today. 12:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the initial concern over Universe 25 came from environmental circles, which is the impact of overpopulation on nature. 12:49 [SPEAKER_00]: But interestingly, in more recent times, parallels have been drawn between Universe 25 and the industrialization of human society. 13:00 [SPEAKER_00]: both experienced population-booms due to reduced infant mortality rates, with somewhat reflects the situation of the mice. 13:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Today declining birth rates and developed countries and reports of decreased interest and having children among young people echo the phenomena observed in universe 25. 13:24 [SPEAKER_00]: so it does spark some concerns about societal decline. 13:28 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, behavior all biologists think that the unusual behaviors of the mice happened because there wasn't enough natural selection going on. 13:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Natural selection, as we know, is nature's way of making sure only the strongest, 13:51 [SPEAKER_00]: So when there isn't enough opportunity for natural selection, it can lead to what they call mutational meltdowns, which means that there were probably genetic mutations that made the mice extremely strange. 14:05 [SPEAKER_00]: And wouldn't you know, some political commentators are actually worried that similar things might happen to humans. 14:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Their concern, basically, is that shifts on how we live and what we believe could affect our intelligence and social connections negatively. 14:25 [SPEAKER_00]: For example, we can have a dependence on technology and today's world, which changes how we interact with others, and that can impact our ability to think critically or relate to each other effectively. 14:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Others are looking at the results as a lesson, about the dangers of socialist welfare states or cities getting too big. 14:48 [SPEAKER_00]: They think that providing too much help to people or cramming too many people into cities might cause problems like what happened in the experiment. 14:59 [SPEAKER_00]: So we can say that Calhoun's study gave us a sort of direction for more research into the 15:10 [SPEAKER_00]: but it certainly didn't provide concrete solutions or answers. 15:19 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's it for today's episode. 15:22 [SPEAKER_00]: The experiment was truly groundbreaking for its time. 15:25 [SPEAKER_00]: It brought forward some interesting phenomena. 15:29 [SPEAKER_00]: But the question remains, was Calhoun Correct and his belief that overpopulation will bring about problems, 15:41 [SPEAKER_00]: While according to Calhoun himself, the answer to that is this, rats and mice of course are not perfect models of humans, but the disaster they represent is so compelling, but the world cannot wait for proof of every step in that equation. 15:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to Home Town History, and be sure to follow along for more interesting stories from the past.
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