Behavioral Sink and Universe 25

By now, we have all heard of Project 2025, even the man set to implement its directives has heard of it. But few may have heard of Universe 25. Are there parallels or lessons to be learned here? Yes, I have recently returned from an Internet rabbit hole, or should I say rat hole.

You see, Universe 25 was part of a study of rats. Norway rats to be more specific with later experiments in the 70s conducted with mice. The study was the brainchild of ethologist John B. Calhoun and these first experiments were done between 1958 and 1962. He created a “rat utopia” where rats were raised in a confined space with unlimited access to food and water, free of all predators and allowed to propagate. His paper on the results was titled "Population Density and Social Pathology.” It was published in Scientific American in 1962.

In that study paper he coined the term Behavioral sink which he used to describe the behavioral collapse resulting from overpopulation. There were four connected rooms, but the rats seemed to congregate in just one. Individual rats would rarely eat except in the company of other rats. Infant mortality rose and males exhibited sexual deviation and cannibalism along with overactivity and a withdrawal. Some individuals were only active when other members were asleep.

Universe 25 experiments used mice and were conducted into the 1970s. While the space could accommodate a population of 4,000, it peaked at 2,200. At that peak, individuals would refuse to engage in courtship (incels?) and females would abandon their young. After 600 days, they were still physically able to reproduce but had lost the social skills necessary to do so. By June of 1972, the once thriving population had dwindled to 122 and it wasn’t long before all of them were dead.

In the modern day human society of America, we are now governed by a man some would call a rat, but certainly not a Norwegian one. We see the abnormal behavior all around us including some that had been exhibited in these experiments. The American population has seen a decline in numbers that had previously been backfilled by immigration. Now that immigration is being curtailed in radical fashion, a plan is under development to pay U.S. citizens to procreate.

Universe 25 was criticized for not following normal scientific procedures as they were largely observational and subjective. I would say that the process fits in nicely with the conspiratorial misinformation and pseudo-science of today. While Universe 25 suffered from misinterpretation and bias and used methods that would test current ethical sensibilities for the treatment of rats, the current Trump administration would probably have stopped the experiments, rounded up all the rats, and deported them to a Salvadoran prison.

Universe 25 should not be confused with the Rat Park experiments of the late 70s where rats were allowed to self-medicate with morphine water if they wanted. Under crowded or confined spaces drug addiction soared but when provided with more spacious housing those rates declined. I’m sure RFK Jr, the resident Trump expert on such matters, could weigh in here.