In his theory of natural selection, Charles Darwin was greatly influenced by the English clergyman Thomas Malthus. Malthus published a book in 1798 stating that populations with unlimited natural resources grow very rapidly, after which population growth decreases as resources become depleted. This accelerating pattern of increasing population size is called exponential growth.

Exponential growth is possible only when infinite natural resources are available; this is not the case in the real world. Charles Darwin recognized this fact in his description of the "struggle for existence," which states that individuals will compete (with members of their own or other species) for limited resources. The successful ones will survive to pass on their own characteristics and traits (which we know now are transferred by genes) to the next generation at a greater rate: a process known as natural selection.

In the real world, with its limited resources, exponential growth cannot continue indefinitely. Exponential growth may occur in environments where there are few individuals and plentiful resources, but when the number of individuals becomes large enough, resources will be depleted, slowing the growth rate. Eventually, the growth rate will plateau or level off. This population size, which represents the maximum population size that a particular environment can support, is called the carrying capacity.

The logistic model assumes that every individual within a population will have equal access to resources and, thus, an equal chance for survival. For animals, important resources include food, water, shelter, nesting space, and mates.

In the real world, the variation of phenotypes among individuals within a population means that some individuals will be better adapted to their environment than others. The resulting competition between population members of the same species for resources is termed intraspecific competition (intra- = "within"; -specific = "species"). Intraspecific competition for resources may not affect populations that are well below their carrying capacity as resources are plentiful and all individuals can obtain what they need. However, as population size increases, this competition intensifies. In addition, the accumulation of waste products can reduce an environment's carrying capacity.

Now imagine...

That you are living in a time of absolute plenty. Shelter? You are living in your mom's basement. Thirsty or hungry? Just get in your hoverround and roll down to Wal-Mart. Horny? You can experience sex with dozens of attractive females in just few clicks. Everything is just perfect.

Why even bother?

In 1950, an American ethologist named John Calhoun created a series of experiments to test the effects of overpopulation on the behaviour of social animals. The animals which Calhoun chose for his experiments where mice (and later on rats). He chose rodents as these reproduce rapidly thus allowing him to observe the development of several generations of mice in a relatively short space of time.

His team created a comfortable environment ideal for the mice. This was achieved by fitting a pen (box-shaped enclosure) with unlimited food and water. The room had space for up to 3000 mice. The room was closed off so that neither the mice could get out nor predators get in. By removing the risk of predation, the mice could grow in an environment free from external stress. The room was then compartmentalised into different units, this allowed Calhoun to identify how different social groupings formed.

At first, the population exploded. Eventually, growth slowed, and shortly there after the social heirarchy completely disintegrated. The mice showed different types of social dysfunctions. Some mice became violent. Males fought each other for acceptance, those that where defeated withdrew. Some males became repeated targets of attacks.

Calhoun had noted during his experiments:

“Many [female mice] were unable to carry pregnancy to full term, or to survive delivery of their litters if they did. An even greater number, after successfully giving birth, fell short in their maternal functions. Amongst the males the behaviour disturbances ranged from sexual deviation to cannibalism and from frenetic over-activity to a pathological withdrawal from which individuals would emerge to eat, drink and move about only when other members of the community were asleep. The social organisation of the animals showed equal disruption…”

[...]

“The common source of these disturbances became most dramatically apparent in the populations of our first series of three experiments, in which we observed the development of what we called a behavioural sink. The animals would crowd together in greatest number in one of the four interconnecting pens in which the colony was maintained. As many as 60 of the 80 mice in each experimental population would assemble in one pen during periods of feeding. Individual mice would rarely eat except in the company of other mice. As a result extreme population densities developed in the pen adopted for eating, leaving the others with sparse populations.”

[...]

“…In the experiments in which the behavioural sink developed, infant mortality ran as high as 96 percent among the most disoriented groups in the population.” – John Calhoun

Newer generations born in the now dysfunctional mouse utopia became withdrawn, spending their days grooming obsessively and dedicating their time solely to eating , drinking and sleeping. This generation, for all the emphasis they placed on grooming, would not reproduce. Moreover, these mice were noted to be unintelligent compared to previous generations.

The Fate Of Empires. Anyone?

“…the limit Calhoun imposed on his population [of mice] was space — and as the population grew, this became increasingly problematic. As the pens heaved with animals, one of his assistants described the rodent utopia as having become hell.”

Gentlemen, this is our fate. We can pretend to fight with the nature. We can throw dust in our eyes and live on in our utopian society. But deep down we all know the result - nature always wins. All the shit that we despise in our society is byproduct of maximum resource availability. We can cry about it, because it really is fucking unfair or we can man up and use what we know to our benefits. Save yourself. Work on yourself. Lift, study, stop mastrubating, meet up with that girl you like, do things you want to do, do things you love, enjoy your life, be selfish asshole, because you will be one just for so long.