An experiment with mice, of a carefully constructed area and set living conditions that couldn’t be changed by the mice, and they couldn’t escape. They were beholden to the experiment, and it ran its course as it was meant to. Repeatedly. And the results came back the same.

Universe 25 – The Behavioural Sink (wiki).

“Created a series of “rat utopias” – enclosed spaces in which rats were given unlimited access to food and water, enabling unfettered population growth”

There is much more to it, and I suggest you read through. And as you know I have written other articles about animal and people experiments, In A Maze, An Experiment But A Big One and Memory as well as the odd crazy idea or two like in Changing Into What Exactly?. But I was unaware of the behavioural sink experiments until only a few weeks ago, and clearly given what has occurred in society over the last three years, certain sections of certain societies definitely seem to be going through what appears to be very similar circumstances to those unfortunate mice. Fully engineered to be that way of course, as we see with the current human counterparts.

“In his most famous experiment in the series, “Universe 25″, population peaked at 2,200 mice and thereafter exhibited a variety of abnormal, often destructive, behaviours including refusal to engage in courtship, females abandoning their young, and homosexuality.”

Now, you can make of that what you will. But it does go some way to answer some of my questions about nature vs nurture, and of environmental causes being the root of certain social and behavioural changes, in people and animals. Unfortunately, I am unsure of when we were ever ‘normal’ (if we were) and to know when there was ever a Time people weren’t messing around with things and influencing the outcome somewhat. Tinkering and tailoring to requirement.

And at this point – I suddenly think of one of my favourite books as a child Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and the film of it, The Secret of NIMH. Which of course is about a group of mice and rats who escape a lab and an experiment. Which upon looking it up again, it appears that it was written in reference to those very experiments that Calhoun was running, and I hadn’t even realised what NIMH even stood for (shaking head at my own stupidity here) – as it stands for National Institute of Mental Health. I guess it was interesting to read and see about what happened once the rats and mice escape, because it was nice to think that some do, giving very little thought to what went on in the lab other than what you were told. But we have had our own version along the way, just bigger ‘labs’ and more subjects and studies by the whitecoats.

Such as television programs like Big Brother and Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, make me think of strange short-term, human versions of this scenario. To observe how they react in close quarters with strangers, without enough food, and having to play whatever ‘game’ they come up with to entertain the viewers. But the purpose of that game is always much more than it appears. They will have also observed people within military and penal settings for this behaviour, knowing how much is enough, or too much and steering the mood and mentality where they want it to go. Anywhere where you deliberately crowd people and keep them restricted, whether it be by rules or barriers, a similar mindset develops. Boarding schools also spring to mind here, and tower blocks. Regimented, ordered and making sure you get limited privacy.

I used to wonder why they built houses so close together, why they planned them with windows facing each other, and in a way that made it appear to be about community and ease of services to each location, but it wasn’t really. Just as these 15-minute towns and cities aren’t, it appears to be about continuing to condition people to be mentally prepared to be physically herded into ‘safe zones’ and to only rely on a central point to advise you, guide you and look after you. But really, I now see society and all the new ideas being rolled out as an extension of Universe 25, but for people. That they know what happens when you put in too many, and just keep feeding them. They will either feed you to death, or then take it away and watch the mayhem ensue, which results in destruction either way. Turning instinct into a self-destructive force if it isn’t allowed to follow a natural course. We have ended up being In A Zoo either way, just currently it appears to be an open one. For now…

(c) K Wicks