The hundredth monkey effect is a hypothetical phenomenon in which a new behavior or idea is said to spread rapidly by unexplained means from one group to all related groups once a critical number of members of one group exhibit the new behavior or acknowledge the new idea. This concept is closely related to the information cascade model we learnt in class and demonstrates how it works in the animal world.The story of the hundredth monkey effect was published in Lyall Watson’s foreword to Lawrence Blair’s Rhythms of Vision in 1975. Some scientists were conducting a study of macaque monkeys on the Japanese island of Kōjima in 1952. These scientists observed that some of these monkeys learned to wash sweet potatoes in the water, and once a critical number of these monkeys was reached, i.e., the hundredth monkey, this previously learned practice instantly spread across the water to other troupes of monkeys on nearby islands without any contact between the troupes. This phenomenon correlates to the information cascade model in that it shows how ideas can spread quickly once they hit a certain level of acceptance. The certain level of acceptance matches with the tipping point in changing behavior.
With this method all we need to do to influence enough people is to reach a small amount over time which will cascade into more and more people.
We can change it!
The problem is that man’s conquest of the world has itself devastated the world.
Daniel Quinn
