324 - The Mouse Utopia Experiments

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Strange and thought provoking episode today! In the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, animal behavior researcher John B Calhoun ran a number of experiments on rodents regarding how their behavior would be affected by increased urbanization if all their basic needs were made. The results were terrifying. Crowded rats and mice became increasingly violent and lost their reproductive instincts to the point that eventually, the utopia went extinct after enduring a final phase full of random violent attacks, apathy, cannibalism and more. Could the increased urbanization of humanity also lead to our species' extinction as Calhoun warned? Or are we humans too different from rodents to presume that what happens to mice and rat would also happen to humans? I found today's episode one of the most thought provoking we've done in quite some time. Hope you do too!
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