Hundredth monkey effect

Hundredth monkey effect

The story of the hundredth monkey effect suggests that there is a tipping point in nature and society because of an unseen collective consciousness that causes a broader change beyond mere physical observation and interaction.

The story was published in Lyall Watson's foreword to Lawrence Blair's Rhythms of Vision in 1975, and spread with the appearance of Watson's 1979 book Lifetide. The claim is that scientists were conducting a study of macaque monkeys on the Japanese island of Koshima in 1952 purportedly observed that some of these monkeys learned to wash sweet potatoes, and gradually this new behavior spread through the younger generation of monkeys—in the usual fashion, through observation and repetition. Watson then claimed that the researchers observed that once a critical number of monkeys was reached—the so-called hundredth monkey—this previously learned behavior instantly spread across the water to monkeys on nearby islands.

Dis-Creditors

In 1985, Elaine Myers re-examined the original published research in "The Hundredth Monkey Revisited" in the journal In Context. In her review she found that the original research reports by the Japan Monkey Center in Vol. 2, 5, and 6 of the journal Primates are insufficient to support Watson's story.

An analysis of the literature by Ron Amundson, published by the Skeptics Society, attempted to demystify the supposed effect.

Claims that there was a sudden and remarkable increase in the proportion of washers in the first population were exaggerations of a much slower, more mundane effect. Rather than all monkeys mysteriously learning the skill it was noted that it was predominantly younger monkeys that learned the skill from the older monkeys through observational learning, which is widespread in the animal kingdom. Monkey see Monkey do.

The use of the term predominantly younger monkeys tells us some older monkeys did learn new tricks.

Then there is the questions of:

Where did the first monkey obtain the inspiration to wash the sweet potato in the first place?

Is learning the product of revelation along with the effort in real time to act upon a mental perception?

Are the elements of time, action and revelation part of the processes of life and growth and even death?

Are there more than one source of that revelation? Is revelation from other monkeys or even men?

So then could their be other dimensions from which revelation, information may be downloaded and uploaded?

And if String Theory and M- Theory have some bases in the whole of reality is our thinking being pulled between two realms of opposing processes like devils and angels on our shoulders?

Wow! That is getting out there in the Quantum?

Matrix download

The science fiction idea of simply downloading skills and knowledge without sweat equity may have an objective component hidden the wishful thinking of the enthusiasts looking for confirmation rather than pure truth.

The concept of multiple discovery is the hypothesis that many complex scientific discoveries and even many technical inventions are made independently and more or less simultaneously by multiple scientists and inventors. Is this merely coincidence or is there a quantum connection in realms not observed or categorized as physical?

Can learning be a combination of sweat equity and quantum connection not forgetting that time is a dimension and not merely the tick of a clock? The desire to learn is clearly a factor in learning just as pride in what we know already can be a block to learning more. And where does the desire to learn come from? Is it a personal choice or a product of genetic or even spiritual Karma? We are clearly influenced by what people say to us, the way they say it and the relationship we have with those people but are we also influenced by their thinking and desires on more subtle levels? And can other people be a conduit to the other string dimensions or dominions both benevolent ones and malevolent ones?

Were the Israelite's 40 years the result of a lack of faith that required more sweat equity to learn the new tricks of a free society taught by Moses? Was the ability of the Apostles in the Bible to suddenly speak foreign languages the result of a cosmic download of information?

Sheldrake

Alfred Rupert Sheldrake, born in 1942, was a biochemist and cell biologist at Cambridge University from 1967 to 1973 and then the principal plant physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute. As an English author, lecturer, and researcher, he is best known for his idea that "memory is inherent in nature".

He has primarily worked on developing and promoting his concept of "morphic resonance" which posits that "natural systems, such as termite colonies, or pigeons, or orchid plants, or insulin molecules, inherit a collective memory from all previous things of their kind". He says that morphic resonance is also responsible for "telepathy-type interconnections between organisms".

Sheldrake also argues that science has become a series of dogmas rather than an open-minded approach to investigating phenomena,and has suggested that scientists are susceptible to "the recurrent fantasy of omniscience".

A phenomenon is a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, esp. one whose cause or explanation is in question. The question is often due to the fact that the observation does not fit accepted scientific dogma.

Sheldrake says he took French philosopher Henri Bergson's book Matter and Memory and his concept of memories not being materially embedded in the brain and generalized it to morphic resonance, where memories are not only immaterial but also under the influence of the collective past memories of similar organisms. The idea of similar organisms brings us to genetic code and DNA as a collective receiver that allows us or omples us to tap into other sources of perception.

Bars and Dogma

The decline effect is said to occur when scientific claims receive decreasing support.

In 2010 Jonah Lehrer observed that the development of second generation anti-psychotic drugs produced a dramatic decrease in the subjects' psychiatric symptoms but subsequent tests showed a declining effect documenting that these drugs had no better effect than earlier anti-psychotics.

Experiments done by Jonathan Schooler concerning memories and Danish zoologist Anders Møller suggested a connection between symmetry and sexual preference of female birds declined in their evidential results as time continued.

Later Lehrer suggested that scientific observations might be shaped by one's expectations and desires. In psychic and paranormal research this has always been a convenient disclaimer for varied and even contradictory results.

Yet, this is clearly referenced in the Biblical texts that your faith has saved you suggesting that what you believed allowed some form of virtue or energy to actually manifest an instant healing or change.

Which brings us to other phenomenon like Cognitive dissonance

Footnotes

Hundredth monkey effect

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