The 100th Monkey

by startingover 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  startingover

  The 100th Monkey

  The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years.

  In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.

  An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers too.

  This cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.

  Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes -- the exact number is not known. Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes. Let's further suppose that later that morning, the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes.

  THEN IT HAPPENED!

  By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them. The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!

  But notice: A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea...Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.

  Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.

  Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious property of these people.

  But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!
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  startingover

  Nobody found this interesting huh? Guess I'll kill my own thread with this post.
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  sooner7nc

  It's very interesting. I just don't know that I beleive it. It is interesting though.
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  Black Sheep

  

  Snow monkeys soaking in a hot spring. Cute, but the 100th Monkey story about them is a myth .
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  Life is now

  I am very interested in how or what can be communicated in this way from one animal or person to another.

  How do birds flying in a flock, and fish swimming together know when to change direction instantaneously as a group?

  I have heard recently about trials on owners and their dogs, where the dogs know when their owners even think about returning home. Apparently the dogs do not do this if they are being distracted at the time.

  How is it that people inventing things, or making discoveries in science, often do so at the same time as people in other parts of the world, and there is a race for the first?

  Thanks for this information. I'd like to start keeping a record of anything like this I hear about.
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  A.Fenderson

  But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness is picked up by almost everyone!

  That's a pretty strong claim, and the mechanisms by which this supposed "field" is strengthened and consequently tapped into aren't touched on at all. Instead of applying Occam's razor and hypothesizing the simplest explanation, they've gone into very abstract claims without defining what they're talking about or hypothesizing the means by which this disembodied awareness is transferred over distances greater than what could be explained by current scientific theory. So it's really not science per se, much closer to mysticism, with a hip, new-age vibe. I would further argue, that like most other superstitious belief, it's actually harmful, because the feel-good "moral" of the story seems to be something along the lines of "if we get enough people to believe/realize something, the mere power of the belief itself will become strong enough to transfer the belief to other people without any necessary proselytizing." Even with the best of intentions, this wishful thinking won't accomplish anything, and detracts from the potential good done by actively trying to show and teach people outside the in-group about your great idea .

  On the plus side--for JW's anyway--it means they get to a point where field service is no longer necessary. ;-)
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  John Doe

  BS.
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  aSphereisnotaCircle

  I agree with A.Fenderson.

  They make a huge leap of assumptions and nothing to back it up.
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  John Doe

  It's a blatant post hoc fallacy. If monkeys in one place discovered how to wash their potatoes, why wouldn't monkeys in another place discover the same thing? The two are most definitely not related.
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  Leolaia

  But this is my burning question....is it actually possible that shamus100 is, in fact, the 100th monkey?