Community living

It would seem that the issues to face are all environmental and technical. Actually the biggest may be psychological and physiological.

Extroverts vs Introverts

Assume a situation where you are cooped up for 6 months, isolated, confined, working at night, and sleeping during the day. It would be like space travel.

The report finds that people of chatty nature, seeing as they would likely be more extroverted, would be deemed more disturbing and demanding of attention and not be suitable candidates for a job that entails confined and secluded environments over a long duration.

The study, conducted by researchers at DePaul University in Chicago, found that a person that is always willing to talk could actually become irritating to other crew members on a lengthy space mission.

"You're talking about a very tiny vehicle, where people are in very isolated, very confined spaces," explained Suzanne Bell an associate professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago and lead researcher on the study. "Extroverts have a little bit of a tough time in that situation."(link)

Extend this to years at a time and you can see why the problems of personal relationships were such a big issue in the biosphere project.

Diet

A vegetarian diet will build a more cohesive community. Why? Because it lowers testosterone (link).

The research advances the argument that human society progressed when people began being kinder to each other, which requires that a smaller amount of testosterone be in action.

According to Duke anthropologist Steven Churchill, rounder heads and smaller brows can be linked to testosterone levels impacting the skeleton.

Read more: http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/low-testosterone-levels-led-to-less-head-clubbing-and-more-art-technology/#ixzz39JVHP4K9

“If prehistoric people began living closer together and passing down new technologies, they’d have to be tolerant of each other. The key to our success is the ability to cooperate and get along and learn from one another,” said Robert Cieri (lead author)

If that is true, then I find it disturbing that there are news titles such as;

Record Number Of Men Seeking Treatment For Low Testosterone Levels

As the world lurches towards a crunch this is the worst possible time that men should be trying to build testosterone levels. The last bastion of hope is in co-operation.

“If prehistoric people began living closer together and passing down new technologies, they’d have to be tolerant of each other,” Cieri posited. “The key to our success is the ability to cooperate and get along and learn from one another.”

They will be living close together, but they won't be tolerant.