Hundredth monkey

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Japanese macaques

The principle of the “hundredth monkey” (“The Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon” or “The Hundredth Monkey Effect”) is a modern myth that has been spread as an example of collective consciousness since 1979 , but is based on incorrectly reproduced scientific sources on collective and learning behavior .

myth

In 1958, scientists observed a group of monkeys on the Japanese island of Kōjima . Eventually, the researchers began feeding the animals with sweet potatoes. Little by little, the behavior of washing the potatoes before eating spread among the animals.

In 1979 the botanist Lyall Watson describes what then supposedly happened as follows: “With the addition of this hundredth monkey, however, the number apparently exceeded a kind of threshold, a certain critical mass, because on the evening of the same day almost the entire rest of the herd did it. And not only that: The behavior pattern even seems to have jumped natural barriers and - similar to glycerine crystals in hermetically sealed test tubes - to have appeared spontaneously in colonies on other islands as well as in a troop ... on the mainland. "

The author Ken Keyes took up the story in 1982 and explained how this could happen: "When a critical number reaches a certain consciousness, this new consciousness can be communicated from mind to mind." The hundredth monkey is said to have triggered a kind of paranormal learning process . Watson concluded even more radically: "If enough of us think something is true, then it will be true for all." The morphogenetic fields described by Rupert Sheldrake are supposed to provide an explanation for the phenomenon . By this he understands invisible energy fields through which living beings are connected to one another and energetic information is transported.

Watson needed less than two pages of text, and Keyes half a page sufficed to describe the alleged riddle. With that the myth was born. In particular, through the book by Keyes, which was sold in more than 1 million copies, the myth spread worldwide and is still used today as an alleged scientific fact in esoteric and self-realization literature.

criticism

"Watson either did not read the scientific articles he cited correctly or reproduced them in a distorted manner", judged the philosophy professor and skeptic Ron Amundson , calling this mixture of free improvisation of facts and echoes of conspiracy theory "the classic pseudoscientific approach". Masao Kawai, head of the Japanese behavioral researchers who had studied the monkey population for several decades, also described Watson's representations of the study results as incorrect on several occasions.

Watson himself reports in his book how he came to his interpretation of the story: Since the scientists are still not entirely sure what happened, he had to "figure out the processes from personal anecdotes and ... stories circulating" and was forced to "To improvise the details". Mainly because “those who suspect the truth are reluctant to make it public for fear of falling victim to ridicule.” In 1986, in a response to Amundson, he acknowledged the scientific criticism of his presentation, describing his thesis as mere Metaphor and instead emphasized its socio-cultural relevance as a strategy for social change. But his thesis also remained controversial in the social science context. The psychologist Maureen O'Hara pointed to the connection between the spread of “supra-individual” opinions and totalitarian ideologies: The replacement of individual thinking by a collective consciousness meant the end of pluralism of opinion and thus a shift in the foundations of human coexistence. And for Elaine Myers , “The Hundredth Monkey” is nothing more than an example of propagating a paradigm shift .

Nevertheless, even critics like Amundson have sympathy for some of the propagators of this myth. Ken Keyes' actual topic is nuclear disarmament and the goal of the Hundredth Monkeying Inner Aid Project is - as general as it may sound - "to bring benefit to all of world society without prejudice or bias" ("to bring benefits to all in the world." , without prejudices").

backgrounds

The monkeys that are said to have shown such behavior are Japanese macaques , which have been studied by Japanese researchers since the early 1950s. After the scientists started giving them sweet potatoes, changes in behavior became apparent in the population. Initially a single young animal had started to wash the dirty potatoes, this technique soon spread among the other young animals, and then gradually among some older monkeys as well. After all, this behavior could also be observed in colonies outside the island - a washing monkey had probably swam over. "Monkey see, monkey do".

This was an astonishing process for the researchers in that young animals usually learn their behavior from older ones and not the other way around. There is no evidence in the research reports for a “sudden learning leap”. The year 1958, which is so important for mythologists, is also a turning point for scientists, but only as a transition from the innovation phase (before 1958) to the phase of normality (after 1958): the young animals had grown up in the meantime, and so the young animals learned again their behavior from the ancients as before. In the sources there is also an indication of the number of members of the monkey tribe on Koshima: in 1962 there were 59 animals. So there has never been a “hundredth monkey” numerically.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Masao Kawai: On the Newly-Acquired Pre-Cultural Behavior of the Natural Troop of Japanese Monkeys on Koshima Islet. In: Primates 6 (1965), pp. 1-30; see. Ron Amundson : The Hundredth Monkey. In: Gero von Randow (Ed.): My paranormal bicycle . Reinbek 1993, pp. 37-46.
  2. ↑ Lyall Watson: Lifetide. NY 1979, cit. according to Ron Amundson: The hundredth monkey. In: Gero von Randow (Ed.): My paranormal bicycle . Reinbek 1993, p. 38.
  3. ↑ s. Maureen O'Hara: Of Myths and Monkeys: A Critical Look at Critical Mass . In: Ted Schultz (Ed.): The Fringes of Reason. NY 1989 (introduction).
  4. ↑ Ken Keyes: The Hundredth Monkey . o. O. 1983, o. Pag., original English. The Hundredth Monkey , January 1982, Coos Bay, Oregon.
  5. ↑ Lyall Watson: Lifetide. NY 1979, p. 148.
  6. ^ Rupert Sheldrake: A New Science of Life . Los Angeles 1981; dt .: The creative universe. The theory of the morphogenetic field . Munich 1983.
  7. ↑ Drunvalo Melchizedek: The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life Light . 2 vols. Flagstaff 1999/2000; Christopher Penczak: Inner Temple Of Witchcraft: Magick, Meditation and Psychic Development . Woodbury 2002; Owen Waters: The Shift: The Revolution in Human Consciousness . Delaware 2005; Chris Fenwick: The 100th human . New Kingstown 2006; Richard Moss: The Mandala of Being: Discovering the Power of Awareness . Novato 2007; Christopher Penczak: Ascension Magick: Ritual, Myth & Healing for the New Aeon . Woodbury 2007.
  8. ↑ Ron Amundson: The Hundredth Monkey. In: Gero von Randow (Ed.): My paranormal bicycle . Reinbek 1993, p. 42 f.
  9. ↑ Markus Pössel, Ron Amundson: Follow-Up - Senior Researcher Comments on the Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon in Japan. In: Skeptical Inquirer 20 (3) 1996, p. 51 f.
  10. ↑ Dt. according to Ron Amundson: The hundredth monkey. In: Gero von Randow (Ed.): My paranormal bicycle . Reinbek 1993, p. 38.
  11. ↑ The original quote: “… one has to gather the rest of the story from personal anecdotes and bits of folklore amongst primate researchers, because most of them are still not quite sure what happened. And those who do suspect the truth are reluctant to publish it for fear of ridicule. So I am forced to improvise the details. "(Lyall Watson: Lifetide. NY 1979, p. 148.)
  12. ^ Lyall Watson: Lyall Watson responds - to criticism of the hundredth monkey theory of telepathic group mind - letter to the editor. In: Whole Earth Review 52, Autumn, 1986.
  13. ↑ Maureen O'Hara: Of Myths and Monkeys: A Critical Look at Critical Mass. In: Whole Earth Review , Autum 1986, passim.
  14. ↑ Elaine Myers: The Hundredth Monkey Revisited - Going Back to the Original Sources Puts a New Light on this Popular Story. In: In Context 9 (1985), p. 10.
  15. ↑ Ron Amundson: The Hundredth Monkey. In: Gero von Randow (Ed.): My paranormal bicycle . Reinbek 1993, p. 45 f.
  16. ↑ Hundredth Monkeying Project. ( Memento of January 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).
  17. ↑ The AFU and Urban Legend Archive ( Memento from May 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) briefly summarized the learning process in 1999.
  18. ^ Masao Kawai et al .: Long-term Studies of the Old World Monkeys Pre-cultural Behaviors Observed in Free-ranking Japanese Monkeys on Koshima Islet over the Past 25 Years. In: Primate Report 32 (1991), pp. 143-155.

literature

Behavioral Studies
  • Kinji Imanishi: Social Behavior in Japanese Monkeys . In: Charles A. Southwick (Ed.): Primate Social Behavior . Van Nostrand, Toronto 1963.
  • Masao Kawai: On the Newly-Acquired Behavior of the Natural Troop of Japanese Monkeys on Koshima Island . In: Primates 4, 1963, pp. 113-115.
  • Syunzo Kawamura: Subcultural Propagation Among Japanese Macaques . In: Charles A. Southwick (Ed.): Primate Social Behavior . Van Nostrand, Toronto 1963.
  • Masao Kawai: On the Newly-Acquired Pre-Cultural Behavior of the Natural Troop of Japanese Monkeys on Koshima Islet . In: Primates 6, 1965, pp. 1-30.
  • Atsuo Tsumori: Newly Acquired Behavior and Social Interactions of Japanese Monkeys . In: Stuart Altman (Ed.): Social Communication Among Primates . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1967.
  • Masao Kawai et al .: Long-term Studies of the Old World Monkeys Pre-cultural Behaviors Observed in Free-ranking Japanese Monkeys on Koshima Islet over the Past 25 Years . In: Primate Report 32, 1991, pp. 143-155.
Interpretation by Watson, Keyes et al
  • Lyall Watson: Lifetide . Simon & Schuster, NY 1979; dt .: The unconscious person . Umschau, Frankfurt am Main 1979, ISBN 3-524-69013-0 .
  • Ken Keyes: The Hundredth Monkey . Vision Books, Coos Bay (Oreg.) 1982 (and more often); German: The hundredth monkey . Hübner, Waldeck-Dehringhausen 1983 (and more often).
  • Elda Hartley (Producer / Director): The Hundredth Monkey . Hartles Film Foundation, Cos Cob (Conn.) 1983 (film).
  • Rupert Sheldrake: A New Science of Life . JP Tarcher, Los Angeles 1981; dt .: The creative universe. The theory of the morphogenetic field 1983 et al. ISBN 3-548-35359-2 .
  • Arthur Stein: The "Hundredth Monkey" and Humanity's Quest for Survival . In: Phoenix Journal of Transpersonal Anthropology 7 (1983), pp. 29-40.
  • Lyall Watson: Lyall Watson responds - to criticism of the hundredth monkey theory of telepathic group mind - letter to the editor . In: Whole Earth Review 52, Autumn, 1986; Reprint in: Ted Schultz (Ed.): The Fringes of Reason . Harmony, NY 1989.
Criticism of Watson's thesis

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