&gt; It&#x27;s been a bugbear of mine for a while that in a world with so many pressing problems, where democracy is failing us, that artists have a huge responsibility to stand up and do something about it, rather than walking away from the mess and building more abstract installations.<p>This description reminds me of John B. Calhoun&#x27;s &quot;beautiful ones&quot; [1] (the &quot;mouse utopia&quot; experiment). If any readers are running across this for the first time, be sure to read the Smithsonian&#x27;s article with a caution about imputing too much predictive power from Calhoun&#x27;s findings to human behavior and settings. [2]<p>Of particular interest to our current social web-saturated world, is one modern researcher&#x27;s related Calhoun-like experiment translated to human participants concluded that &quot;Moral decay could arise &#x27;not from density, but from excessive social interaction,&#x27;&quot;<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;John_B._Calhoun" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;John_B._Calhoun</a>
[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.smithsonianmag.com&#x2F;smart-news&#x2F;how-mouse-utopias-1960s-led-grim-predictions-humans-180954423&#x2F;?no-ist" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.smithsonianmag.com&#x2F;smart-news&#x2F;how-mouse-utopias-1...</a>