the collapse of society

wendell borton

Interesting article about researchers that build mouse "utopias" that all eventually broke down in a manner with parrales to current human society.

http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/42/wiles.php
"Mice found themselves born into a world that was more crowded every day, and there were far more mice than meaningful social roles. With more and more peers to defend against, males found it difficult and stressful to defend their territory, so they abandoned the activity. Normal social discourse within the mouse community broke down, and with it the ability of mice to form social bonds. The failures and dropouts congregated in large groups in the middle of the enclosure, their listless withdrawal occasionally interrupted by spasms and waves of pointless violence. The victims of these random attacks became attackers. Left on their own in nests subject to invasion, nursing females attacked their own young. Procreation slumped, infant abandonment and mortality soared."

CJ Haughey

Put two rats in a cage the strongest one eats the weakest one old news.

conorh91

wendell borton wrote: »

Interesting article about researchers that build mouse "utopias" that all eventually broke down in a manner with parrales to current human society.

http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/42/wiles.php
"Mice found themselves born into a world that was more crowded every day, and there were far more mice than meaningful social roles. With more and more peers to defend against, males found it difficult and stressful to defend their territory, so they abandoned the activity. Normal social discourse within the mouse community broke down, and with it the ability of mice to form social bonds. The failures and dropouts congregated in large groups in the middle of the enclosure, their listless withdrawal occasionally interrupted by spasms and waves of pointless violence. The victims of these random attacks became attackers. Left on their own in nests subject to invasion, nursing females attacked their own young. Procreation slumped, infant abandonment and mortality soared."

I can understand comparing humans to mice in biological terms, since we're both mammals with similar cellular and physiological processes... but comparing us to mice in a psycho-social way?? That seems very suspect.

Animals have hugely different social personalities, even when their physiology is reasonably similar (e.g. cats and dogs)

I'm not sure how valid it is to compare mouse society to human society. We can reason in ways they cannot. We live longer, we form complex friendships. We're mobile and relocate move to suit our personalities.

I don't buy it.

csallmighty

Bloody mice taking all our jobs

the evasion_kid

CJ Haughey wrote: »

Put two rats in a cage the strongest one eats the weakest one old news.

Put three rats in a cage and one ends up doing all the work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4uof3Y-Wo

buried

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Put three rats in a cage and one ends up doing all the work

The other two become a banker & a politician .

CJ Haughey

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Put three rats in a cage and one ends up doing all the work

Have you a quick summary to that video, my plugins are crashing.

JaseBelleVie

Margaret Thatcher once shrieked at an audience that "There is no such thing as society!"

Was she ahead of the curve?

the evasion_kid

CJ Haughey wrote: »

Have you a quick summary to that video, my plugins are crashing.

Experiment were 3 rats are placed in a compartment,with a lever that releases food through a hatch when hit.what starts off with the 3 rats hitting the lever gradually changes over the course of the experiment.


By the end of the experiment rat no.3 is doing all the work,running and hitting the food release lever while rat no.1 and rat no.2 have turned parasitic by waiting at the food hatch and eating the food as it gets released by no.3's work.

jimgoose

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Experiment were 3 rats are placed in a compartment,with a lever that releases food through a hatch when hit.what starts off with the 3 rats hitting the lever gradually changes over the course of the experiment.


By the end of the experiment rat no.3 is doing all the work,running and hitting the food release lever while rat no.1 and rat no.2 have turned parasitic by waiting at the food hatch and eating the food as it gets released by no.3's work.

That sounds like a much more accurate model than that caper with the mice.

kingchess

So two rats did nothing and lived off the sweat of one very busy rat,he should go postal on the other two and then keep all the food.

the evasion_kid

kingchess wrote: »

So two rats did nothing and lived off the sweat of one very busy rat,he should go postal on the other two and then keep all the food.

On the 4th day,

rat no 3 hits the lever 1156 times

Rat no 1: 3 times

Rat no 2: 0 times

He should go the labor courts

RomanKnows

El Weirdo

Thought this was another Marriage Equality Referendum thread for a minute there.

SEPT 23 1989

the collapse of society can wait till the morning

ToddyDoody

JaseBelleVie wrote: »

Margaret Thatcher once shrieked at an audience that "There is no such thing as society!"

Was she ahead of the curve?

If 'society' could only be self-financing