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Evolution and extinction, two inherent stages in any society

C-E Demeter

Abstract

Any period of a developed society, of comfort, multiplication and lack of worries prefaces a moral decay and the extinction of the species. This is one of the conclusions of the Calhoun experiment or Universe 25. The experiment carried out between 1950 and 1970 is an extraordinary discovery on which, many scenarios having as subject the emergence and disappearance of civilizations over the years can be built, but before it is a scientific discovery, it remains, above all, a gloomy prediction about to become reality in the near future. Another important role of the Calhoun experiment, beyond the assigned interpretations, is that it paved the way for new experiments, drawing attention to social behaviors that can generate ill-fated consequences. Thus, another researcher, Jonathan Freedman, focused on the study of real people, high school and university students. Is urban overcrowding a destructive factor? Do excess well-being and the absence of a struggle for food have a negative influence on society? Is excessive social interaction destructive of moral and intellectual standards? Can the individual influence the environment in which he lives without deviating from his principles? These are just a few questions that Calhoun's experiment could answer, following psycho-social assessments and interpretations adapted to human society, while providing long-term solutions and an objective assessment of the individual. While Calhoun was conducting this experiment on rat behavior in Baltimore, another experiment was being conducted by Steiniger, who took gray rats from various places and put them in a pen, offering them identical living conditions to natural ones. At first, the rats showed some fear of each other and, although they did not show aggressive behavior, they bit each other if they met accidentally. It wasn't long before the rats in Steiniger's experiment became aggressive and fought until they all disappeared, except for one pair whose descendants formed a clan. Steiniger's experiment started with 15 rats, Calhoun's with 14. The differentiating elements of the two experiments were that the space offered by Calhoun's experiment was sixteen times larger than Steiniger's and with a greater possibility of shelter for those attacked. The end of the two experiments was identical: the self-destruction of the subject population. When I look at history I am pessimistic....but when I look at prehistory, I am optimistic.- J.C. Smuts In one way or another, the human being resembles other species as he fights with those of his own species. But, on the other hand, among so many struggling species, he is the only one whose struggle is antisocial ... human being is the only species capable of genocide, the only maladapted in his own society.- N. Tinbergen

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sws.iscah.f2020.7.2/s03.05

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