A number of years back I spent some time with Puff Daddy (P-Diddy, whatever I knew him as “Puff”) and his girlfriend at the time, Cassie, who I adored… I didn’t know Puff well enough to have a significant voice in the conversation around his scandal, but I do remember a heaviness about him. Like someone who’d seen a lot, done a lot, and maybe been through a lot.
And anyway all of these recent allegations and news has reminded me of this study that was conducted in the 1960s where researchers created a rat utopi. They gave the rats everything they needed: a beautiful predator free environment, unlimited sex, food, and fun. Well to the shock of the researchers, after enjoying the comfort for a while the rats basically started to lose their minds and go crazy, destroying themselves and one another. As an example, the alpha males would indiscriminately roam around and rape other mice regardless of gender. Sound familiar?
I think about this often because many of the people that I work with think they want to be billionaires or they want enough money so that they can “do nothing.” But we’re not biologically wired for that. In fact, I think that’s one of the reasons that as civilizations get more comfortable over time psychological afflictions and mental mental disorders (like depression) tend to increase.
So maybe it’s true what they say: it’s the journey that’s the way, not the destination.
Here are some excerpts from the study which you can find here.
- The mice would meet, mate and breed in large quantities.
- Eventually a leveling-off would occur.
- After that, the rodents would develop either hostile and cliquish or passive and anti-social behaviors.
- The population would trail off to extinction.
- “The alpha males, by contrast, became more aggressive and pugnacious, often launching into violence with no clear provocation or motive. At times, these males would roam around and indiscriminately rape other mice, regardless of gender. Meanwhile, the beta males — those ranked between the aggressive alphas and outcast omegas — grew timid and inert and often wound up being the passive recipients of violence. In several instances, bloodbaths ended with a cannibalistic feast for the victors.”