171–175 of 175 posts
Ever since learning of the Mouse Utopia (where did "mouse 'heaven'" come from?) experiment, I found it interesting that its results spoke more directly of LOCALIZED overpopulation. In a human context: cities. Many of the pathologies observed in the experiment are very starkly displayed in human cities. I've always found it odd that those most interested with overpopulation concerns also advocate for cities as part of…
I guess its thinking of overpopulation as a phenomenological effect on the individual vs the global effect of all of us on the environment. Interesting point though, I had never thought of it in that way before. People all over the world are already living in Blade Runner levels of density.
It's interesting both that they do that and that we've been so conditioned to think that it's somehow a necessity. I once watched a breakdown of population and housing, and the author of the piece calculated that everyone currently living on earth could live in a one-story comfortable family house, with a yard and space for community parks and gardens, and the entire population of the planet would fit inside of Texas, with some tens of thousands of acres left over in the state. It blew my mind, and made me really ponder the nature of why we live the way we do in some cases.
One of the worst jobs i ever had, occasionally required us to drown some mice. Excess population / euthanized "feeders" for pet snakes. The method was to put several mice into a small wire cage, and then submerge the cage in water. Usually I filled a bucket with hot water, beforehand, and made this operation fast as possible. Dunk and done. One day I came across a cow orker attempting to do this job (I had been busy…
Once in grad school I went to a talk where another grad student was presenting on his fear research with mice. Many powerpoint details unfold of the hell he and his advisor had contrived to make the mice chronically afraid, and to be able to quantify the fear induced and its effects. I learned that when mice get scared enough they shit excessively. In the presentation of results he lingers on a graph, and says, for e…
then what do you wish you had said?
(I too find that joke distasteful)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once in grad school I went to a talk where another grad student was presenting on his fear research with mice. Many powerpoint details unfold of the hell he and his advisor had contrived to make the mice chronically afraid, and to be able to quantify the fear induced and its effects. I learned that when mice get scared enough they shit excessively. In the presentation of results he lingers on a graph, and says, for e…
If you could reverse time and say (or do) anything you would have wanted, and it wouldn't affect your future negatively, then what do you wish you had said? (I too find that joke distasteful)
It's worth noting that I don't think saying that would have affected my career. I didn't say it because I didn't have the guts to stand up to the mob. Thus the guilt.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A young populace is indeed closely linked to violence. The book "The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World" by Paul Morland has some interesting thoughts on the topic. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43198718-the-human-tide
The problem with that assertion is that it's so simplistic that it's meaningless. Having more young people doesn't magically cause more violence. Those young people don't exist in a vaccuum. Adolescents generally don't have an income and are thus dependent on their families to provide for them. Families having more children also means they have more expenses and need to allocate more time to parenting and "family tim…
Most likely it's just more hormones.