The 100th Monkey - True story

The 100th Monkey

A story about social change.
by Ken Keyes, jr.


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!

you can download or print the entire book from:

http://www.spiritual-endeavors.org/free/index.htm

Very cool...I wonder if I could be Second Life's 100th monkey?

Nice story except for the fact that it isn't true .

sniff ... into each life... a little rain must fall.

Its still a great thought!

MUAHAHAHA good. My idea that this so called "collective concience" is actually a genetic link that causes certain ideas to develope at certain times and situations is still possible.

Basically my idea is that our genetic disposition combined with influence from outside sources is why people in different places can come up with like ideas at the same time. Not that it is some mass of thoughts floating around the earth waiting for someone to tap in to.

Then there's the "Hundreth Gullible Bulk Email/Forum Post Reader Effect" where one false story can blossom into an entire career path for the unscupulous, and a great money sink for the quick-to-believe.

If 100 other people have read it, it MUST be true.



(You are reader number 99...)

I see this every week at the supermarket. Everyone in the store gets in the checkout line two seconds before I need to check out. People who've loaded their cart with stuff needing price checks collectivly gravitate not only to the line I'm in but to be ahead of me in the line.
I think rogue shopping carts collectivly conspire to dent my car too. But you know me.