In a petri dish, bacteria grow. Say they double every generation, and five generations before the end the petri dish is 15/16ths empty, and then the next generation's 3/4ths empty, and the next generation half empty. Within one generation after the petri dish still being half empty, it is full. There's no more food and the bacteria have collapsed.
在培养皿中，细菌繁殖。每隔一代，数目翻倍， 只需五代，便告终结。起初，培养皿会有15/16的空白区域， 而一代之后，只剩下3/4的空间，再下一代， 只有一半。当培养皿还有一半空间时，只需要再有一代， 培养皿就被占满了。因为没有了更多的食物来源，这个细菌社会于是崩溃。