GM issues |
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 l8 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 playmate 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 transmitted silently 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.
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.
HAS THE PENNY DROPPED YET
This gives us real hope. Knowledge IS power and we want to tap into YOUR power.
When this little story translates into action. When YOU have passed on your
awareness of what's REALLY going on with Genetic Manipulation, the YOU could be
our 100th monkey and the GM threat will evapourate under the power of collective
awareness.
IT'S ALL IN THE MIND
This is an excerpt from the book by Ken Keyes Jr. "The Hundreth Monkey."