Universe 25: What Can We Learn About Ourselves From A Mouse Experiment
I was recently introduced to an experiment known as the Mouse Haven or more officially Mortality-Inhibiting Environment for Mice, and a specific project known as Universe 25. If you’ve never heard of this, I’d recommend looking into it. It’s a fascinating psychological experiment, which has parallels to what we’re seeing in society today.
Universe 25 was conducted in Maryland by a National Institute of Mental Health researcher named John Calhoun in 1968. Calhoun created what he deemed the perfect living environment for mice. These mice had the perfect temperature, amount of food and water, and sleeping quarters, they were even free from sickness. He tried to make their world as utopic as it could possibly be.
Starting with just 8 albino mice the population began doubling every 55 days until it reached its peak of about 2200 mice. But once the population peaked something unusual happened. The mice apparently had quite a sophisticated hierarchical society. And for unknown reasons, their society began to fall apart.
The males began to become effeminate and the females began to become aggressive. What would have been the outcast mice or “dropouts” as Calhoun called them, couldn’t leave as they would in the wild and began causing societal strife. And because there was very little sickness, there were more dropouts who created violent gangs and began attacking other mice, viciously, and for no reason.
They also targeted alpha mice who were protecting their harems of females. The alphas eventually got tired and gave up defending the females. After this happened, the females no longer felt safe protecting their babies and thus began to neglect them and kick them out of their nest early which caused them to lack the necessary social skills creating even more outcast mice.
Eventually, many of the female mice began to become hermits and chose to live in solitude inside their quarters. At the same time, the effeminate males spent most of their days uninterested in mating and obsessively grooming themselves. Calhoun called them “the beautiful ones“. Those brave few who attempted to keep society intact by continuing to reproduce were also attacked and eventually, they too abandoned hope.
Over time the mice stopped reproducing altogether, began to die out, and after five years Universe 25 was over. Although Universe 25 was conducted to study the effects of overpopulation in mice communities the obvious parallels to humans cannot be overlooked.
But how could an experiment on mice done decades ago explain what's going on in our human society now?
We too, live in the most idyllic conditions ever known in human history. We have the technology to live in the perfect temperature (wherever we live). Food and drink are plentiful. Almost everything we desire can be obtained with the click of a button. And modern medical technology has increased life expectancy and saved countless lives who would have likely died earlier from disease or accidents. Despite these utopic conditions we also seem to be experiencing many of the same problems seen in Universe 25.
The outcasts from the traditional criminal segment, prostitutes, drug dealers and addicts, thieves, perverts, rapists, and even murderers are crawling out of the shadows and into mainstream society often to fanfare and celebration or at the very least what seems like unhealthy compassion. Undesirables and criminals are coming from all over the world to our country, committing some of the most egregious crimes and getting little punishment from our justice system. The outcasts are wreaking havoc and we appear to be powerless to stop it.
Likely because of the increase in outcast acceptance, we are seeing an increase in effeminate men and a disinterest in family and having children. As well as an attack on traditional families. And much to feminists' dismay there is a dwindling percentage of men standing up to defend an increase in attacks on women and girls.
If this trend proceeds we likely can expect to see a continued withdrawal of normal people from mainstream society and a continued degradation of culture, happiness, families, and even beauty and outdoor cleanliness.
Much like Universe 25, our utopic conditions seem to be leading to decay as these nihilistic tendencies don't seem to be seen outside of the industrialized world. But what does this teach us?
Perhaps utopia does not exist for a good reason. Humans like all living creatures need to experience struggle. When our existence is too idyllic we don't get to experience hardship which is necessary for growth and survival. As hard and uncomfortable as it is to experience suffering it is a necessary part of life. As Universe 25 demonstrates even if you manage to artificially mitigate pain, nature will find a way to bring it back and with a vengeance.
Maybe striving for perfection is not virtuous after all and embracing the hardships in life is more valuable than we know.
Rebecca Velo is a mom, wife, and political writer. She is the Opinion Editor for Wrong Speak Publishing and also writes for Substack. You can follow her on X.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Interesting Rebecca
Below some musings on outliers, group identity & preference cascades
Most people will confirm via group peer pressure to the tribal identity stereotypes that they personally resonate with the most. Racial, political, occupational, etc
Despite what they may personally believe
Thus via sunk cost fallacy this becomes a spiral which can transform into a vortex, creating malleable opinion blocks via preference falsification
(When groups collectively pretend an obvious lie isn't a lie)
Reinforced via real or fabricated threats to the group
The spiral is self reinforcing
The vortex is not easily escapable without outside assistance
However, by design new ideas cannot penetrate
Thus we can predict the preferences of society via merely surveying the landscape of identities
Leading to our current cultural malaise
Enter those immune to group dynamics
The weirdos, the "actual" neuro-atypicals, the real freaks, the autists, the rebels, geniuses, whackos, perverts, the people who just don't give a fuck, the crazies, the insane and deranged
Once everyone defines themselves by their group identities, the only avenue for change is the ones who don't fit neatly into these narrow boxes.
The true misfits, culturally we've gotten to the point we're everything is accepted, nothing is forbidden. The mad lads who still can't fit in, who continue to say the Emperor has no clothes. They are the likeliest vector for large scale societal change.
They're the only ones able to work outside the prescribed guidelines of acceptable discourse. They're completely unpredictable but they can ignore propriety, speak uncomfortable truths & actually bring about change.
The misfits may actually the main source of novel societal ideas during times of high preference falsification
Normally in Preference Cascade theory. Everyone is oppressed, (Eastern Europe behind the Red Curtain) until one person gets tired of it, he raises his pitchfork and another man raises a pitchfork until the plebeians are attacking the authority with torches and pitchforks.
(Though often this can be forestalled via massacring those shoots that spring up)
Now let us return to our society, as everything is permitted few are considered misfits., however if we posit that misfits function as dry tinder during preference cascades. We could then make the assumption that a preference cascade can be snuffed out.
Leading to misfits/social outliers being a source of creative energy, social dynamism and protection against authoritarianism.
Which sadly doesn't work once we accept and affirm the outcasts.
There may be an ideal ratio of social outliers to normies in society.
And while no one's making fun of guys cosplaying while playing DnD in their parents basement anymore. Those geeks ended up revolutionizing the world. Maybe it was partially based out of frustration that geeks went on to build Facebook, Google, Apple etc and lacking that friction we delay the next groundbreaking idea.
The outliers perhaps don't need a hug, by being left out of the mainstream, they may be empowered to 1 keep a check on mainstream culture 2 Discover / Create exceptional things outside the accepted norms