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Did a little research on this, and while I do agree with the narrator's overall sentiment (not hard to do considering we're seeing it in real time), I do not agree this experiment showed that conclusion exactly.

Still, a very thought provoking experiment. It'd be interesting to see it redone, but with a larger group to start and the humans giving them a truly "utopian" life (constant fresh food/water, no predators, remove the dead, etc.).

I knew about the rat overpopulation experiment, but I guess I didn't know there were a series of them.

Could inbreeding from 4 originals cause extinction? Something in their brain kicks in telling them to stop mating with their relatives, and since there's no new mice being introduced, they die off.

That is one of the criticisms of U25. That's why I suggested a larger breeding pool for a new run through.

Although, I do wonder how diverse the mating pairs truly need to be for the number to be deemed "enough". After all, Earth is one giant cage and humanity isn't getting new injections of DNA...aside from Epstein (that's funny if you've seen his desire to have his DNA spread into everyone) and perhaps aliens/interdimensional travelers?

Leisher wrote: ↑Tue Feb 17, 2026 3:38 pm After all, Earth is one giant cage and humanity isn't getting new injections of DNA

Mutations? And enough separation to have a fair amt of diversity to begin with?

TheCatt wrote: ↑Tue Feb 17, 2026 3:55 pmMutations?

Not cool ones like the X-Men.

TheCatt wrote: ↑Tue Feb 17, 2026 3:55 pm And enough separation to have a fair amt of diversity to begin with?

All life started from one point and one person, so we're technically all related. But yes, in a new experiment, it'd be cool if the cage was bigger to simulate different areas/climates where mutations could occur.

Leisher wrote: ↑Wed Feb 18, 2026 12:39 pm All life started from one point and one person, so we're technically all related.

Uhhhh, OK Mr. Bible.

TheCatt wrote: ↑Wed Feb 18, 2026 12:53 pm

Leisher wrote: ↑Wed Feb 18, 2026 12:39 pm All life started from one point and one person, so we're technically all related.

Uhhhh, OK Mr. Bible.

Admittedly, I phrased that very biblically. I was taking us all the way back to the very first...whatever...that evolved into anything resembling humanity. There's always a first something.

Let me phrase it more scientifically.

We ALL have shared ancestors, both in recent history and further back. That's an indisputable and proven fact. Who they were and so on is what can be debated.