uncharacteristically aggressive and violent females. The social hierarchy
began to disintegrate, with the breeding males slowly losing interest in their
territory, females, and young. Some mice began to mount others regardless
of gender. A few others displayed cannibalism.

With each passing generation, the birth-rate declined due to male
disinterest in mating. The females seemed to lose interest in their own
young, abandoning or killing them. Most disturbingly, the females also
lost the ability to carry their young to term. According to Calhoun, “infant
mortality ran as high as 96 per cent among the most disoriented groups in
the population.”

In the final phase, the “decline,” the mice stopped fighting and breeding
altogether. The final generation sequestered themselves entirely, grooming
constantly, emerging to feed only when the other mice were asleep. Calhoun
rescued a few of them and attempted to re-integrate them into another
mice society, but their behavior did not change. They were physically perfect
specimens, but they had lost all social and reproductive motivation, choosing
to simply wait for the end. Calhoun named them “The Beautiful Ones.”

The final successful birth took place on day 600. The population continued
to decline, but the mice never bred again, nor did they partake in any
typical mouse behaviour. Calhoun characterized this as the “first death,” an
existential despair that causes paralysis of the mind in anticipation of the
“second death,” or death of the body.

At first glance, these mice had everything they needed to ensure prosperity,
yet the condensation of the population rendered the mice incapable of
passing on the basic knowledge necessary for reproduction. As Calhoun

put it, “For an animal so simple as a mouse, the most complex behaviours
involve the interrelated set of courtship, maternal care, territorial defense,
and hierarchical intra-group and inter-group social organization. When
behaviours related to these functions fail to mature, there is no development
of social organization and no reproduction [...]""

Calhoun's experiment has since become an icon of social pessimism. His
ideas are reflected in films like Soylent Green and A Clockwork Orange, as
well as a large body of scientific literature. As Calhoun ominously noted in
his 1962 paper Population Density and Social Pathology, “For an animal so
complex as man, there is no logical reason why a comparable sequence of
events should not also lead to species extinction.”

If that sounds alarmist, consider that within the last decade, a number
of phenomena have emerged that closely mirror the four stages of the
behavioural sink seen in the Mouse Universe.

Population condensation is always the first cause. Just as in the Mouse
Universe, humans tend to congregate in certain areas and abandon others.
As such, populated areas become gradually more condensed. Cities like Rio
de Janeiro squeeze a whopping six-million people into a mere 1,221 square
kilometres of space, and, fascinatingly, it is not even among the most densely
populated cities in the world. Compare this to Mumbai in India, where
22-million people reside within 603 square kilometres. For perspective, that's
nearly 25,000 people per square kilometre.

The lack of physical and social space in these urban centres leads to a
stressed environment, causing social unrest and violence. This phenomenon
can be observed in major cities like Mexico City and New York, especially in
crowded inner-city areas where crime is most prevalent.

Another phenomenon that can be observed in densely-populated
areas is the breakdown of the family. The US Census Bureau shows

    

that 1 in 4 American children lives in a fatherless household—17.4 million
children in total. Forty-five per cent of such families are considered poor.
Along with the social difficulties faced by food-insecure families, the children
of these households lack strong role models to help socialize them, much in
the same way that Calhoun’'s mice failed to uphold social organization when
the fathers left the nest.

Failure to reach a replacement birth rate is the next logical phase. The global
average fertility rate has declined steadily for the past 50 years in nearly all
parts of the world, especially in urban centres like Korea, Japan, and Hong
Kong. This is a natural adaptation made by apex predators with high infant
survival rates; to avoid overpopulation, the species reproduces more slowly.
It may not yet be a problem, but that merely indicates the only significant
difference between our world and the Mouse Universe: scale.

Even The Beautiful Ones have an analog in humanity. The Japan Times
reported that 20.3 per cent of Japanese men aged 25-29 have no interest in
pursuing sex or relationships with women, preferring instead to live solitary
lives. These Sohsoku kei Danshi, or “herbivore men,” often avoid social
interaction and refuse to be a part of consumer culture. Similar groups of
men have begun to appear in the UK, US, and Canada over the last few
years, identifying themselves as “Men Going Their Own Way,” or MGTOW
tor short.

Whether or not this was his intent, Calhoun’s work and the human reflections
thereof handily explain the problem with utopias. That is, they make all

their inhabitants redundant. All the important roles have been filled by a
system which provides a standard of comfort to its citizens. Although this
setup might appeal to one’s inner idealist, it carries with it unforeseen
consequences. The moment there are more people than there are roles

to fill, the population becomes restless, aimless, and even suicidal, often
without realizing why.

  
   
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
 
 
 

It would be nihilistic to say that humankind’s
extinction is certain, yet it seems we have
mistakenly adopted the very conditions which
could speed our demise as a species. We are
animals, and we respond to input the same
way other animals do, so it is foolhardy to
disregard Calhoun's warning. Yet, unlike
Orwell and Huxley, it is not enough for us
to merely ask “if this goes on, what shall
happen?” We must find a way to change
the answer.

os

To strive is the natural instinct of all living
beings. When this personal responsibility
is taken away, the subject loses its sense
of self. Fortunately for us, we have two
things that Calhoun’s mice did not—
opposable thumbs and measurable 1.0.
scores. It falls to each of us to put those
things to use; to assert our independence
from the natural order, and create motivation
tor ourselves on the individual and societal
levels. Averting the first death requires us

to change the rules of the experiment.

Otherwise, we may become beautiful

C]
R
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