"Total Environment"

1968 Aldiss, Brian W[ilson] (1925-2017). “Total Environment.” Galaxy Science Fiction 26.3 (February 1968): 113-156. Rpt. in World’s Best Science Fiction 1969. Ed. Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr (New York: Ace Books, 1969), 287-331; in Alpha Three. Ed. Robert Silverberg (New York: Ballantine Books, 1972), 79-122; and in The City 2000 A.D.: Urban Life Through Science Fiction. Ed. Ralph Clem, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Joseph Olander (Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Crest, 1976), 109-151. MoU-St

Overpopulation dystopia. An experiment called the Ultra High Density Research Establishment (UHRDE) or the Total Environment is set up by the UN and the Indian government to test whether or not extreme crowding produces telepathy. The conditions inside the experiment, which is completely cut off from the outside world except for the anonymous provision of food and electronic monitoring, become horrifying but also produce the desired results.