124 John B. Calhoun 



Each successive Nh will have an intensity of interaction approximating 

 0.3 that of the preceding. At the 8th and last listed Nb, intensity of inter- 

 action would be only 0.0002 that when Nh = 12. It seems rather patent 

 that no meaningful behavior could transpire with such a reduced intensity 

 (duration) of interaction. Two-hundred thirty million adults in a semi- 

 closed social system can only apply to the world as a whole for the human 

 species. Reduction of intensity of activity as a means of recovering satia- 

 tion from social interaction could, in evolutionary terms, likely suffice in 

 mammals to the third stage of 15,000 adults which entails a reduction of i 

 to 0.09 of that appropriate to A''^ = 12. 



A similar series of Nb can be calculated with reference to Of = 0.775 or 

 the tolerance limit involved in shifting Nb from 12 to 82. Optimum df = 

 0.25 can be regained if at this limit i is reduced to about 0.36 of its intensity 

 at the former Nb. Such a "frustration saltatorial Nb series" becomes: 



Again this series becomes rather absurd at the upper limit because of 

 the great demand for reducing intensity of interaction. Since semiclosed 

 systems, at least on the human level, and occasionally with other mammals 

 do approach some of these A^6, we must ask what other avenues of evolu- 

 tion exist. 



For this we must assume that intensity of interaction remains constant 

 at some level approximating that for Nb = 12, but that a tolerance limit 

 for dd and df exists. At the A^ of these limits a change in behavior may take 

 place which insulates the individual by producing subaggregates in which, 

 for all practical purposes, the individual at any particular time is a mem- 

 ber of a subgroup in which Nb = 12, even though many other subgroups 

 exist in the environs. The individual may be a member of several such 

 groups but participates in only one at a time. Such changes in behavior 

 can be considered to be of either genetic or cultural origin. In either case, 

 so long as any tolerance limit for 6/ and/or 6d exists, there must be salta- 

 torial steps between successive Nb, and only a few such steps are possible 

 even if the tolerance limit arises at a somewhat lower level than hypothe- 

 sized above. 



If later research supports this hypothesis it will haxe considerable 



