In 1973, a scientist had a crazy idea: put 10 strangers on a tiny raft for a 101-day, 6,000-mile journey across the Atlantic.
The goal was to study the root causes of human violence.
The scientist running it was named Santiago Genovés and he believed if he found the reason humans are violent, he could solve world peace.
He believed that human violence stemmed from sexual frustration, and he thought if he put young, conventionally attractive people in a highly dangerous environment, they would revert to their baseline, savage instincts.
His plan was to sit in the corner and take notes as the chaos unfolded.
But a few weeks in, Santiago realized he had a major problem.
The group wasn't fighting. They were actually getting along too well. They were cooperating, bonding, and peacefully navigating the ocean.
Santiago was furious that his hypothesis was failing.
So, he decided to manufacture the violence himself.
He started playing mind games. He took over command of the raft and began reading the participants' private, anonymous daily surveys out loud to the group, desperately trying to turn them against each other.
And it worked. He finally sparked violent thoughts.
But the violence wasn't directed at each other. The group despised Santiago so much that they held a secret meeting. They actively plotted to murder him, throw his body overboard, and tell the authorities it was a tragic accident.
The experiment was supposed to prove that humans are inherently violent beasts.
Instead, it proved that humans are naturally prone to cooperation... and violence usually only occurs when a toxic authority figure tries to divide them.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1241475208145943