How 15-Minute Cities are Comparable with Universe 25

It's more than just the Hunger Games.

FROM 1968 through 1973, American scientist John Calhoun ran an experiment involving a mouse utopia. He provided the mice with unlimited resources and reproductive facilities, 256 rooms that can fit up to 3,000 individuals, regular screening to ensure their health and well-being, and a predator-free environment to ensure their perpetual existence. Although this may seem promising for the mice at first - its initial population of eight mice doubled every 55 days fifteen weeks into the experiment, eventually peaking at 2,200 - but over time, its population declined due to violence, a lack of interest in mating, and the overall sedentary behavior of succeeding generations. Because of that, birth rates dropped significantly, and so is the mice population, while juvenile death rates skyrocket to as high as 90%. Eventually, the last mice died in early 1973.

Over the course of the experiment, Calhoun noted what he calls "behavioral sink" amongst the mice he observed. This is noted by abnormal behaviors that plague the mice population in the utopia, such as over-aggressive alpha mice that constantly attack lower-status beta mice (who often succumb to them), omega mice that converge in the center of the enclosure and starting aggressive brawls, females who develop aggressive tendencies and projecting them towards the young or just abandoning them entirely, and an entirely new generation of mice born without learning survival skills crucial for their development, and thus are incapable of doing anything other than isolating themselves, cleaning their bodies, eating, drinking, and sleeping, all with no incentive to reproduce.

How does this compare with 15-minute cities? First brought up in 2016, planners of 15-minute cities aim to reduce car usage in cities by promoting alternatives such as public transportation, bicycles, and walking as means of transport. All of this are promoted under the guise of fighting climate change and sustainability. However, there are risks of the 15-minute city itself turning into a Universe 25 for its residents. How are they going to be planned, and what are the risks? Let's start with the road map:

1. A city gets zoned into several districts. Travel between each district by car is punishable by a fine, so residents have to apply for an exit permit to be able to do such. Even with that permit, residents are only permitted to leave for just a set amount of days in a given year. For example, in Oxford, United Kingdom, residents must pay a £70 fine for driving into another district unless they apply for an exit permit; even then, residents will only have 100 days per year (3 months in total) where they can travel to other districts fine-free.
2. Public transport, bicycles, and walkability gets promoted to maintain elite supremacy. While government officials can travel with their cars and planes, residents of 15-minute cities are only allowed to use those three transport mediums, all of which have historically been associated with the underclass.
3. Residents' data will be collected to ensure complete control over them. This will be done through the use of microchips and central bank digital currencies as well as other digital payment methods, and will be used in a social credit system where supporters are rewarded and dissenters ostracized and arrested. Furthermore, it's not only for this dictatorial action, but should a corrupt official assumes power, said official can gain extra income by selling the same data in the dark web to hackers and criminals.
4. Business owners of a certain district aren't allowed to expand their businesses into other districts, leaving them with a restricted freedom of movement, and from there, lower profits.
5. Residents aren't allowed to own anything, as evidenced by Danish MP Ida Auken's remarks in 2030 about being happy while owning nothing. The sole owner of everything in said 15-minute city is the government.

Now, let's look at its risks for residents, and how will 15-minute cities lead to the eventual extinction of humanity, just like how Universe 25 led to the extinction of all mice living there:

1. Because the government owns every single thing in the 15-minute city, residents will have unlimited resources comparable with Calhoun's Universe 25, but residents must pay extremely high taxes in order to continue accessing them.
2. Because the government owns every single thing in the 15-minute city, and combined with the extensive surveillance, threats will be averted immediately upon detection, and this will bring forth a second and third generation unable to respond to danger effectively due to impaired survival skills.
3. The second and third generation will then constantly engage in sexual activity (especially homosexual and pedophilic), misuse illicit drugs (especially marijuana and crystal methamphetamine), and involve themselves in other hedonistic pursuits such as gambling and playing video games, all while not contributing a single thing to their community, just like how the new generation mice mentioned before are only able to clean themselves, eat, sleep, and drink.
4. Even if they do have sex, but the second and third generations refuse to reproduce, and this is caused by their hedonistic lifestyle that demands happiness everytime everywhere.
5. Meanwhile, violence levels skyrocket, driven by a desire to dominate amongst both sexes, and with it rates of suicide, rape, and hate crime. At the same time, STD and drug use deaths also increase by a large amount.
6. Eventually, due to all the chaos, and with it the high death rates, a complete death of all residents will eventually be guaranteed. Combine this with other 15-minute cities, all of which have the same problem, and you get the complete extinction of humankind.

So, whenever you see - or hear - someone who supports the idea of 15-minute cities, or aspects of it (e.g., public transportation, cycling distance, walkability, new urbanism, zero-emission zones), remember John Calhoun's Universe 25. The road to evil is paved with good intentions: in the name of saving the climate, 15-minute city promoters aren't only willing to ensure a total depopulation of the Earth, but also the complete extinction of Homo sapiens.

Sources

https://15minutecities.info/

https://stopworldcontrol.com/smart-city/

https://archive.org/download/hungergames15min/hungergames15min.PNG

https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/mouse-heaven-or-mouse-hell

https://www.the-scientist.com/foundations/universe-25-1968-1973-69941

https://www.dw.com/en/15-minute-cities-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-work/a-64907776

https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2023/01/25/15-minute-city-plans-cause-controversy/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/shopping-i-cant-really-remember-what-that-is-or-how-differently-well-live-in-2030/