WEBVTT - City Creatures 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.560 Works dot com. Hey, you're welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.080 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.040 We are back in the studio after a long labor 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:23.079 day weekend away. Um, what'd you get up to? Oh, 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:26.720 you know, I just I went to a densely populated 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:31.680 area and hung out, took some notes, watch my fellow humans. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.320 Oh that a good weekend. A good weekend. Then, yeah, 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.920 what about you? Well, I've ventured, uh my wife and 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.360 I've entured up into the hills of rural Tennessee and 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.360 I actually visited the farm which is of course the 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:47.640 hippie commune there in middle Tennessee, um, famous for its 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:52.519 midwifery and and and soy products and tempe and and 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:54.760 all this, uh, which which was pretty interesting. But I 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.120 was also talking to my mom, who's a kindergarten teacher, 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:01.120 and she reminded me of of this really cool phenomenon 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.680 that kind of ties in with today's episode. You know 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.080 how it is with classroom sizes. Oh yeah, talk about 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:09.640 dense populations. Yeah, you end up throwing in more and 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.039 more kids, especially at the beginning of the class. So 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.520 my mom will start off a school year and she'll 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:18.759 have just an exorbitant number of of kindergarteners there. But 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.920 inevitably what will happen is that one or two of 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.760 the kindergarteners will develop an extra large jaw with with 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:29.800 extra large teeth, and then it will that kindergartener will 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.520 eat several of the other kindergarteners, thus balancing out the 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:37.000 population in the classroom, and then from then on for 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:39.440 the rest of the year, everything is a little more normal. 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.600 It's one of those things that people don't normally talk about, right, 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.679 but I mean it's it's pretty standard in public schools 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.400 in the United States, and it is a good way 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:54.800 to sort of weed down the population and make it manageable. So, yes, indeed, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:02:00.240 we are talking about population density and its effects on organisms. Um. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.480 The the kindergartener thing we just went through there, we 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.320 will explain a little more detail because because what we 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.680 really want to talk about here is the comparison that 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:16.120 can be made between um various organisms and their ways 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:20.200 of dealing with with population density and resource shortage and 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.080 humanity's own ways of dealing with it. Where we're similar, 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:28.000 where we're very different and where even are different approaches 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.880 are kind of achieving the same ends. Yeah, and this 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.000 is where that don't don't part comes in because we've 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.639 talked about this before and it's coming. Twenty is estimated 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.520 that we will add another two point five billion people. 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:43.680 That's a lot of people. So we're at about seven 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.440 billion right now, and right now, fifty percent of us 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:52.440 live in cities. But by of us excuse me, two 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.359 thirds of us of us will be living in cities. 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.080 And what does that spell for us? That's that's going 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.600 to be a lot of people, elbow to elbow. Uh, 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:02.320 So we want to talk about this a little bit 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:07.120 and talk about chicken particular resources that are and aren't 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:11.639 available in this scenario, right because we're talking about more 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.919 and more people that need more and more resources, obviously, 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:17.000 and are we gonna be able to meet that need? 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:18.720 Are we space wise we're gonna be able to meet 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.359 that need? We've we've devoted an entire episode in the 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.440 past to discussing this and about even even if you 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.320 started building these vertical cities, even if you you you 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.240 become smarter and smarter with how how you use available space, 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.920 can you actually keep up with the with the demand. Well, yeah, 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.240 we've talked about vertical farming as as a possible um 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.560 solution to this, but the fact of the matter is 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.160 is that to feed that many people, food production will 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.920 need to grow by seven Yeah, that's huge. And to 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.800 say nothing of drinking water, which which continues to be 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.119 this big illusion here, especially in the United States, and 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:55.560 and I guess much of the western world where drinking 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.600 water is considered, this just there's just no end to it, right, 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:04.360 it's cheer it's everywhere we poop into it, which continues 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.200 to just like once once you you really think about that, 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.320 and lord knows, I spent a lot of my life 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.560 not thinking about that, but once you really think about 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.560 the fact that in the United States we have clean 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.320 drinking water that we defecate into, whereas on the other 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.159 side of the world you have people who who don't 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:25.480 even have access to that clean drinking water, and certainly 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.159 not as regular. Yeah, and we could do an entire 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.240 podcast on it, and in fact we probably that's a 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.520 topic that we should investigate further. But yes, that's a 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.840 huge problem on the horizon, certainly for the West end. 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.360 It's because this dream scenario is not going to continue 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.160 for for the for the world, no, no, and UM, 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:44.760 just to add a little more information to that whole 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:50.520 water scenario, current agriculture practices UM use of the fresh 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.960 water resources and then it renders a lot of that 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:58.240 really unsafe to drink because of pesticides and fertilizers. So 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.800 there you go with that. UM. Obviously that we're gonna 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:02.760 need some more solutions in the future here to fix 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.200 that problem. And there's another thing that we're not quite 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.120 focused on here in the West end that UM. It's 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.200 the existence of slums. Okay, So when I talked about 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.000 the fact that fifty percent of us now live in 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.760 cities and that of us will live in cities, the 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:22.040 United Nations and the World Healthcare Organization all say that 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.280 it's very possible that half of the people who are 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.800 living at cities at that point will be living in 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:32.640 slum cities. Again, this is not something that particularly in 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.239 the United States that we that is front and center 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:39.360 for us, But in India and other places throughout the world, 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.559 you know, we've seen this born out. So that's something 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:47.800 to think about, UM in terms of resources and how 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:49.640 we're all going to get along and what's going to 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.880 be available to us. In fact, the u N says 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.680 in its State of the World Cities Report that we're 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:59.440 moving towards mega regions that create miles upon miles of 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.920 what they call endless cities, capable of holding up to 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.000 a hundred million people. So, you know, keep this in context. 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:07.760 Maybe you live in a city right now that has 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.279 three thousand people, and that seems quite large. That really 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:15.000 is nothing in comparison to you know, forty years out 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:19.400 from now, when you have these huge, sprawling cities across 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.040 miles and miles of land. So let's turn our attention 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.279 to the animal world, how to end and take a 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:30.080 look at how certain organisms deal with overpopulation, because this 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.040 is something that has occurred, you know, since time out 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.679 of mind. You have a successful organism in a given environment, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.120 it's gonna keep growing and growing, but it's eventually going 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.080 to press the envelope. You know, it's going to reach 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.200 that point where it's it's not sustainable within its own environment. 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.040 Resources are gonna dwindle and something's gonna have to give, 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:52.800 right So, one of the more remarkable examples of this 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.880 we see with the tiger salamander, which you find in 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.760 North America ranges from Florida to northern Mexico southern Canada 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.520 rocky mountains. It hibernates during the winter and during the 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.400 summer rains, it migrates in larger numbers to breeding ponds. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.280 That this is where the males compete for females, and 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.600 after mating, a female lays one or more eggs, egg 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:20.280 masses that have fifty eggs each, depending upon the particular 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.960 subspecies of the salamander. All Right, the eggs hatch and 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.280 approximately four weeks into larva, and these larva fies with 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:31.000 like feathery gills. You've probably seen photographs. They're they're they're 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.520 cute and weird and and wonderfully beautiful in their own 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:40.720 subterranean way, slightly prehistoric. Yeah, And so these larva feed 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.720 on aquatic insects, small invertebrates and and even some small fish. 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.640 And the larva remain in these ponds an whole late 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.400 early August, uh well, late July early August, and then 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.520 transformed into air breathing subadults, which are four to five 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.760 inches in rank length. But this is where it gets 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.880 really interesting. Um. The tigers alamander is particularly unique because 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.120 the eggs can develop into two types of larva and 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.640 ultimately three types of adults. Now, but those two types 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.880 of larva, that's where it gets interesting, and this is 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:15.240 where I got the the deal. For the kindergarten example earlier. 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:17.880 The two types of larva that are produced are normal 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:23.320 tiger salamander larva plant and eating. Yeah, and then there 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.920 are the cannibal morphs. The cannibal morphs. Uh, these larva 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:33.640 have larger heads, bigger mouths, more well developed teeth, and 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.360 when ponds start to dry up and other food sources 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.040 become scarce, the cannibal more larva then turn on the 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.760 other salam mander larva in the pool with them and 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.360 start eating them, gobbling them up and growing faster. Their 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.080 maturing at a faster rate, and they're achieving adulthood at 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:54.760 a faster rate while eating the competing larva. Now it's 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.880 worth noting that they they they do not eat kin larva. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.480 I'm less resources are particularly unless they're in dire straits. 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:05.160 Then let's meet the brother or sisters. Yeah, So if 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.160 it's a kindergarten classroom, just know that a brother and 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.760 sister in the same room and one of them developed 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:14.559 that extra large cannibal jaw. It's not gonna eat it's sibling. 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:17.240 And this is called genetic polyphenism, and I think it's 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:21.120 fascinating because it is a response directly to the environment. Right, 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:22.839 So if they began to run into each other with 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.480 her feeling, you know, if the larva are detecting that 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.640 the environment and the resources are shrinking, then they will 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:31.800 respond in one of two ways. Yeah. It's kind of 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.000 like how Iron Man has different armors for different things, 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.120 Like if he's battling Hulk, he has like a Hulkbuster armor, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.440 and he's battling thori as a thorbuster armor. Um, and 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:46.440 it and the the environmental stimuli depends dictates which armor 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:48.400 Tony Stark is gonna put on. It's kind of like 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.880 that sept on a on a genetic level, and in 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:56.800 response to environmental stimuli which form this salama, it will 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.599 take all right. Um, So let's look at another example 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:05.240 of a high density population with creatures. This is also 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.960 an example of genetic polyphenism, except a little less um 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:14.200 grizzly in a way, because the two types that you see, 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.280 there's a gregarious morph and a solitary morph, and the 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.319 gregarious morph or is the one that arises as response 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.079 to population density, and it's more adept at flying, so 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.319 it can get the heck out of dodge and it 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:31.840 can find other patches grass or other resources. Yes, so 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.800 this would be in a kindergarten classroom environment. This would 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.760 be the child that instead of developing giant jaws to 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.360 gobble down its classmates, it would sprout beautiful wings and 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.719 then fly populated classrooms. That the kid who would pull 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.199 the fire alarm or just to get out of dodges 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:51.439 and say yeah. Um. And then there are swarm crickets, 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:55.840 which I think are really interesting. Um, these are Mormon crickets. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.400 That is a good example there. They themselves are a 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.360 good sport of protein, okay and salt. So they're just 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.200 naturally going to be delicious to one another. Little beef 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:11.600 turkey exactly exactly like think of like, for instance, if 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.359 if uh us humans were covered in bacon and resources 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:21.240 were low and straight up like fried bacon skin, bacon skin. Yeah, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.400 and we're just cruising around there's not much to eat. 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:27.160 We might might turn to one another and say, you 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.360 look delicious. That's one thing to think you always keep 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.800 in mind about cannibalism and humans is that. Um, humans 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.800 tend to go for cooked food with with a few 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.280 rare exceptions, but but certainly when it comes to eating 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.320 other mammals, we tend to like it cooked. And uh, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.280 and we're not that so much into just eating it 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.000 living off the bone. But if but if we were, 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.800 would that change the same? Would we just peel off 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.400 a limb right now? And I just like pull off 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.480 one of your digits there, Like if everybody's skin was 0:11:56.559 --> 0:12:00.160 like already like tan doorid and cooked and seasoned and all, 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:01.880 I mean it would it would be a different proposition. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.120 Is it wrong that I'm salivating a little bit and 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.160 I'm a vegetarian? But no, these It's true. These guys 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.680 are their chock full of protein. They are in the 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:16.000 right circumstance, delicious to one another, these these Mormon crickets, 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:23.040 and they actually create these migratory formations. Okay, so um, 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:27.760 this actually creates an order, this march that they conduct. 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.960 And the reason why it creates this order is because 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.200 they're they're marching in mass, and they're moving like each 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.520 cricket is moving away from the one behind it towards 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.600 the one in front of it, and it puts them 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.560 in a in a very strange position in which they 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.840 are both the prey and the predator. So they're they're marching. 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.800 Each one is marching towards a cannibalistic feast in a 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.520 way from a cannibalistic death. Yes, and again this is 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.040 in in the case where the population gets very high, 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.400 resources are dwindling. But to me, this is the more 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:02.920 psychological example or a terror actually than the salamander, because 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:04.640 those guys they just come at you with with big 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:06.360 jaws and you know, what's the end. But yeah, and 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.439 it's kind of like, it's not nothing personal, it's business. Now. 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.800 I've got a giant job with which to eat you exactly, 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:13.640 and I developed that just for this purpose. But this 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.440 other one, it's like, you know, it's either be eaten. Yeah. 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:18.600 And and the important thing is that the cannibal morph 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:20.600 is sort of like, all right, we gotta roll out 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.560 the cannibal model to deal with this market. Whereas the 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.640 crickets are everyone is already on board with cannibalism. It's yeah, 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:31.600 they're ready to go. Um. Now, primates. We have seen 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.960 instances of cannibalism before primates, but generally this is not 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:38.000 something that is um is the norm Yeah, as we 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.120 just gotted. We had an episode called Finding on Cannibals, 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.400 I believe, which I we found out after we released 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:45.400 it that I think some people skipped over it because 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.360 they thought it was going to be about human cannibals, 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.800 which can be is a fascinating topic, but can be 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.120 the more disturbing topic that some listeners want to hear about. 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:58.719 That episode is entirely about animal cannibals. Cannibalism as an 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:04.600 economic factor, uh, in various organisms, and and and as 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.440 we highlighted in that episode, cannibalism on an economic level, 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:10.760 remove all the moral um you know what have you 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:15.840 on a on a biological economic level. It can be 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.840 a very good proposition, but it but while it drives 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.720 really well with some animals like these, like the crickets, 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.920 the Mormon crickets, it doesn't necessarily work so well with 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.800 other modes of life well, and like primates are a 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.160 good example because they're highly social, just like we are. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.320 So um, it's sort of bad form to go around 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.640 eating one another. Um. So that generally doesn't happen in 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.560 a primate uh community, and I wanted to so we do. 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.640 This is why we don't see cannibal morphs among primates, 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:48.600 and certainly not in actual kindergarten classrooms outside of my imagination. No, no, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.960 but if we did, could you imagine like the giant 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:56.640 jaws on Great eight canture, the like the classroom page 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.840 in the yearbook, and you being able to pick out 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.040 the cannibal morphs like look at the mouth on that 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.680 one that way, whoa whoa, Yeah, Jimmy, you're gonna have 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.240 to watch out for that one next year. Well, they 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:09.680 get they become buyers at that age too. Not defeed, 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.240 this absurd notion any I see what you're saying. You're 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.440 trying to make us all feel like there's the undercurrent 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.600 of of possible canibalism in the elementary set. Um, I 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.240 am going to pull this information or just actually, um, 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.120 just highlight this information from a paper called Sociality in 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.880 the City, using biological principle pools to explore the relationship 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.840 between high population in density and social behavior. Yes, by 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.040 Daniel O'Brien and uh and we'll link to this in 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.320 the blog post that accompanies this episode, but the entire 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.240 paper is available in PDF form on lines and it's 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:45.200 the fascinating, fascinating read. Yeah, he says that Maccaux and 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.960 high density populations, do you see an increase in intra 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:53.440 sexual aggressive behavior for females when when the population becomes 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.520 much larger, resources dwindle um. But he also says that 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.880 this is a companied by an increase in intra sexual 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.880 grooming um. Presumably this is the reaction to kind of 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.040 try to calm everybody down once there have been aggressive acts. 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.040 So it'd be like everyone's a little stressed out by 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:14.240 the overpopulation, but instead of digging nails and claws into 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.760 each other, everyone just goes and gets there their hair done, 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:18.960 I think, so it's sort of like, sorry about that, 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:20.240 I didn't mean to do that. Let me gram you 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.880 a little bit. Um. But when there is a chimp 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:27.280 population that is artificially elevated, by the way artificially artificially 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.920 elevated is important because this is how they're they're testing this. 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:35.000 It was found that aggression actually decreased, but self scratching, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.480 which is an indicator of anxiety, increased, and it's thought 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.080 that this is a form of self control, and this 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.600 is a deliberate um act that they're doing in order 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.440 to avoid any sort of unnecessary conflict. So on one account, 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:53.760 we see pro social actions counteracting stress hormones. Instead of 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.520 tearing it up, We're gonna just comb each other's hair 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.360 and meet each other's parasites. And we see anxiety and 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:04.119 conflict of avoidant self control. So instead of just completely 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.800 freaking out and murdering my my fellow chimps, I'm just 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:12.520 gonna maybe stress a bit and uh stare at the 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.919 wall and scratch myself. Yea. And if you look at 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.479 all these models, this is actually good news for us, right, 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.160 because we're a lot closer to tom a primate than 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.760 say a cricket. Um. So when you take this model 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:26.680 and you say, okay, there's going to be an increase 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.800 in population, there's going to be a dwindling of resources 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.679 for humans. Um, what is this going to look like 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:34.640 for us? How are we gonna act? And we should 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.920 probably take a break, But when we get back, let's 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.600 talk about how we may all turn into a loose urbans. 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.720 All right, we're back, And yes, we've talked about what 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:54.400 happens when salamander's encounter population density and dwindling resources. We've 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:58.399 talked about locusts, we've talked about primates, but really the 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.479 big question is what does it mean for humans? Cities 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:06.240 are not the exclusive domain of cannibalistic hordes. Um, obviously 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:08.520 as far as we know, as far as we know, 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.080 I mean there might be some underground sex. Yeah, I 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.280 mean even when you look in fiction, um, you see 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.239 there are just as many cannibalistic hillbilly families as there 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:21.920 are cannibalistic underground dwellers. It kind of balances out. So 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.240 so even in the world of the of imagination, we 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:31.800 don't see the tendency towards cannibalism in large cities. But 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.480 but undeniably, cities are places where people are just stacked 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.879 on top of each other. Resources various, uh you know, 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.640 definitions of resources are harder to come by, be it 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:49.119 be it just you know, simply food, water, um, a 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:53.000 livelihood or socialization. There's sometimes there's just less of it 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.199 to go around. I have to say, when I was 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:59.040 reading the part about the chimpanzees beginning to scratch themselves, 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.359 um and then anxiety, I couldn't help but think of 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:06.040 Woody Allen immediately, who is it? Uh No, I just 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.960 kind of was imagining him as as a chimpanzee because 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:13.240 the typical neurotic city dweller exactly, exactly, someone who has 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.640 been shaped by his experiences in the city and high density. UM. 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.080 So let's talk a little bit about what we do 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.159 know when it comes to that sort of situation. We 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.760 have talked about the bystander effect before. UM again, this 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:26.960 is I guess you could look at it as a 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:30.399 social norm from not really helping people. And this is 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:35.720 evolved from our continual exposure to these instances that we 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.440 just kind of get UM hardened too, I guess you. Yeah. 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.040 And this this reminds me of another sort of sort 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:43.719 of in a way, I feel like kind of an 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:48.399 emerging modern Woody Allen Um in some senses we've mentioned before. 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.760 Louis c K I believe it's the third episode of 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:55.440 the first season of the show. Louis on fx UM. 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.480 He's talking about coming to going to New York Port 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.600 Authority picking up a cousin from the country, and they 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.879 see a homeless man just lying there against the wall 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.159 in dreadful shape, just like madded hair, you know, looks 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:14.520 like he's on death's doorstep. And and the cousin from 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:16.440 the Country's like, oh, whoa, what is he supposed to 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.760 be here? What's what should we do should we help him? 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.560 Does he need our help? And uh? And and Louie 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.639 who has this very very dark at times goofy but 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:30.920 but at times very dark and um and reflective philosophically, 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:36.760 they're very philosophical at times. Um he he he says, well, well, yeah, 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:38.440 he needs your help. He needs your help more than 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.439 anything in the world. But but we don't do that 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.479 here and don't don't touch him, just keep moving. And 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.480 that in essence is the bystander effect. Um. There are 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.600 basically four key components. And we discussed bystander effect before, 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:55.440 but but just to refresh their four key components um 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:59.000 self awareness, to perceived the presence of an audience to 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.320 his or her action inhibits the individual from acting. He 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:05.040 or she does not want to appear foolish or inappropriate 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.960 in front of others. So Louie is in front of 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.639 other New Yorkers. He doesn't want There's a there's a 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:13.840 certain sense of being a city person, you know, like 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.479 just us, you know, walking around Atlanta, you know not 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.040 to gaze up and stare at our few skyscrapers. If 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.920 we go to New York, we're conscious of the fact 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.280 that we are supposed to be some sort of a 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.480 city person, even in this much larger city. So we 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:28.800 don't stare up at the skyscrapers. You're not supposed to 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.120 stand around and look lost, because you'll look out of step, 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.280 you'll look like an outsider, and I don't know, you'll 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:38.600 be eaten or something. Well, but yeah by the underground cannibals. Yeah, 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.199 you don't want to violate the social norms and the 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:43.520 and these and the social rules that are in place, 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:46.120 which say when it is appropriate to do something when 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:48.160 it is not well. And then we've talked about before 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:51.280 too that that there's the psychological component of it, where 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:53.000 you say someone else will deal with that. The more 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:55.560 people that are witnessed to something, the more or the 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.200 less likely that person will receive help. Because everybody's sort 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:00.800 of saying that person will help for that personal help. 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.520 Eventually that person will the homeless person will go to 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.160 a shelter and receive help. Right, I mean this gets 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:08.879 into a diffuse responsibility, which is another aspect of the 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:11.560 bystander effect, which says, then in a situation where only 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:15.680 a small percentage of the bystanders can take action, responsibilities diffused. 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:18.920 So this that say a hundred people are standing by 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.439 and there's a guy that it's you know, clearly he 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:23.760 needs help. He's laying there right there on on the 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.080 floor of the port authority. We can't all help him, no, 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:28.719 I mean, we can't all go and pick him up. 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:30.560