/lit/ - Literature

>>16436383
>something else?
Rat/mouse utopia experiment. Overabundance of resources, lack of predators and excessive safety leads to overpopulation, which leads to excessive social interactions, which lead to anti-social behavior, which lead to social collapse. https://www.victorpest.com/articles/what-humans-can-learn-from-calhouns-rodent-utopia

>Despite the abundance of space throughout the enclosure — each compartment could house up to 15 individuals, and the overall enclosure was built for a capacity of 3,000 — most mice were crowding select areas and eating from the same food sources. The act of eating, as it turned out, came to be viewed as a communal activity, which caused most of the mice to favor the same few compartments.

>All of this huddling, however, led to a drop in mating, and the birthrate soon fell to a third of its former level. A social imbalance also took place among the mice:

>One-third emerged as socially dominant.
>The other two-thirds turned out less socially adept than their forbearers.
>As bonding skills diminished among the mice, Universe 25 went into a slow but irreversible decline.

>By Day 315, behavior disparities between males of high and low status became more pronounced. Those at the bottom of the pecking order found themselves spurned from females and withdrew from mating altogether. Having no roles to fulfill within the society of mice, these outcast males wandered apart from the larger groups to eat and sleep alone — and sometimes fight among one another. [...]

>By the 560th day, the population increase had ceased altogether as the mortality rate hovered at 100 percent. This marked the start of the "death phase" — aka the "die period" — in which the rodent utopia slid toward extinction. Amidst the violence, hostility and lack of mating, a younger generation of mice reached maturity, having never been exposed to examples of normal, healthy relations. With no concept of mating, parenting or marking territory, this generation of mice spent all of their waking hours eating, drinking and grooming themselves.

>In reference to their perfected, unruffled appearances, Calhoun called these mice the "beautiful ones." Living in seclusion from the other mice, they were spared the violence and conflict that waged in the crowded areas, yet made no social contributions.

>According to Calhoun, the death phase consisted of two stages: the "first death" and "second death." The former was characterized by the loss of purpose in life beyond mere existence — no desire to mate, raise young or establish a role within society. This first death was represented by the lackadaisical lives of the beautiful ones, whereas the second death was marked by the literal end of life and the extinction of Universe 25.

>>16010778
It is beyond a doubt the most profitable genre to self-publish in, so yes