Too Many Rats

Day 294: Anyone who's been around me for any length of time will have heard me use the phrase, "Too many rats in the box." For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, allow me to explain.

There is a classic behavioural experiment in which observers (students) are provided with a habitat enclosure as well as adequate food, water and amusements for a sizeable number of rats. At first, only one rat is placed in the box (a lonely situation for a social creature like a rat) and then others are added on a strict schedule at set intervals. Food and water continue to be supplied, toys are changed out to prevent rat boredom, and the society within the habitat enclosure goes along smoothly with only the occasional dispute over territory or breeding. Then one day, despite the fact that to the observer's eye sufficient space, nourishment and mental stimulus are available to an extent which should, by all rights, support even more rats, the rats have a different opinion. They turn on each other in murderous frenzy until their population is reduced to a level acceptable to their psychology.

I would like to point out that we humans are at a crucial point in our global society. We are living on a dying planet, and are in competition for its dwindling resources whether we acknowledge it or not. It has now become an issue of survival of the species, not simply a matter of greed and selfishness, although some segments of the population are legendary for those characteristics and therefore the drive to survive is stronger in them. As occurs within the habitat enclosure, the more powerful rats win out, killing off those which are too weak to defend themselves. And they will stop at nothing: subterfuge, hoarding, violence and brutality. Yep, that's where we are, folks: too many rats in the box.