Following research done on primates, the claim was made that when the number of intelligent individuals sharing a common idea reaches a certain threshold, a "consciousness leap" occurs, and the idea is spontaneously and mysteriously transmitted to the other individuals in the group. Is that so?
Marius Cohen, Galileo
Following research done on primates, the claim was made that when the number of intelligent individuals sharing a common idea reaches a certain threshold, a "consciousness leap" occurs, and the idea is spontaneously and mysteriously transmitted to the other individuals in the group. Is that so?
Research
In the early 20s, Japanese primate researchers observed the behavior of macaque monkeys on the island of Koshima off the coast of Japan. The researchers, who showed an interest in acquiring new behaviors from the monkeys, provided them with sweet potatoes, a type of food that is not normally found on the island. The sweet potatoes were left in open areas where the macaque monkeys used to roam, partly on the beach, and they discovered them and added them to their regular menu. A one-and-a-half-year-old Kopa, whom the researchers named "Yimo", discovered by chance that dipping sweet potatoes in the sea cleans them of sand and dirt, and made washing them a habit. Some other young monkeys, who were Yamo's playmates, imitated her behavior, and learning the advantage of washing the yams, they also adopted the custom. In a similar way, Yamo's mother also learned to do this, which was of particular interest to the researchers because until then only the acquisition of behavior by the younger generation from the older generation had been observed in primates.
The custom of washing the yams gradually spread among other macaques on the island, and during the following years (until the early XNUMXs), the researchers reported that a significant percentage of the monkey colony learned to wash the yams before eating them, whether in the sea or in another water source on the island. These findings were published in several reports, the most important of which was an article by the Japanese primate researcher Kawai, which appeared in the scientific journal Primates.
A leap of consciousness?
In 1979, Lyall Watson, a biologist who also writes "New Age" books, published a book called Lifetide: A Biology of the Unconscious. In this book, Watson puts forward a theory, which he claims is also based on official reports, but mainly on unofficial reports by the primate researchers from Kushima. This theory is so bold that, according to Watson, the researchers were afraid to publish the findings that confirm it. Watson claims in his book, that the process of acquiring the behavior from monkey to monkey was gradual and extremely slow until 1958, but in the fall of that year a leap in the process occurred, and almost all the monkeys in the colony on the island of Koshima began washing yams overnight. And not only that, but this behavior was also observed after this event among macaque monkeys living on islands near Koshima and even on the mainland itself, even though these monkeys are not able to move from island to island on their own, thus ruling out the possibility that this habit was acquired in these places through a normal socialization process.
Watson's conclusion from these data was far-reaching: according to him, when intelligent beings, including monkeys and humans, share a certain idea or knowledge, then when the number of individuals possessing the knowledge reaches a certain level, what can be called a "leap of consciousness" occurs, and this knowledge Spontaneously and immediately passes to the other individuals of the same species, whether they are nearby or overseas. In the first years, Watson claims, the macaques acquired the habit through the normal way of socializing, by watching and imitating, so the learning was slow and gradual. However, when the number of monkeys that learned to wash sweet potatoes reached the critical threshold - Watson assumes for the sake of the example that this number is 100 - then if in the morning of that day in 1958 99 monkeys knew how to wash sweet potatoes, and during the day another monkey learned it - the hundredth monkey - then on the evening of this day Most of the monkeys in the colony already knew how to wash sweet potatoes. Not only that, but on that day itself, macaque monkeys outside of Koshima also adopted this custom, and this, as mentioned, without any contact between the different colonies. It is therefore a kind of telepathy or some other mysterious way that connects the different consciousnesses without any physical mediating means, and which is manifested when the number of individuals sharing the knowledge creates a "critical mass", according to Watson. This, the biologist claims, is an expression of group consciousness that characterizes intelligent beings.
the dry facts
Watson's theory provoked sharp criticism in scientific circles, which relied on these claims:
1. The facts on which Watson relies do not coincide with the official reports of the primate researchers at Kushima.
2. There is no evidence of unofficial reports from the investigators (what Watson called "rumors") to support his claims.
3. "Consciousness leap" is not compatible with existing scientific knowledge, and even if the facts that Watson describes in his book were true, it would still be appropriate to look for a simpler explanation for them.
4. Nothing similar to a "leap of consciousness" has ever been observed, and if such a mechanism existed, then in a world where millions of people share the same knowledge or idea, we would expect to notice the phenomenon every day (millions of people in the world share superstitions, but these have not become the property of the rule).
In fact, Kawai's article, which Watson (he claims) relies on, presents the facts in a completely different way: in 1952, at the beginning of the research on the island of Koshima, 20 macaque monkeys were observed on the island, and by 1962 the number of observed individuals had reached 59. In March 1958, 17 out of 30 adult monkeys observed in the study knew how to wash sweet potatoes (Watson claimed that the exact information does not appear in the article), and by 1962, 36 out of 49 adult monkeys had learned to do this slowly and gradually. There is no mention in the article of a sudden learning event in the fall of 1958 (or at any other stage of the research). In fact, this year only two more monkeys adopted the habit! What distinguished the year 1958 according to the article was solely the fact that in this year the young monkeys who adopted the new custom became adults. Regarding the spread of the habit of washing yams to other places, although it was observed among macaque monkeys outside of Koshima in at least 5 different sites between the years 1953 and 1967, in each of these colonies only a small number of individuals adopted the habit. Also, there is no evidence that the custom started suddenly or in an unusual event, and it is likely that even in these colonies one of the monkeys first learned to do it randomly (just like the kopa yamu), and his playmates acquired the habit through a normal process of friendships. Also, contrary to Watson's claim, there are known cases of macaque monkeys that managed to swim from one island to another (Kawai reported that in 1960 a monkey that had already learned the custom swam to a nearby island), so there is no way that the custom was transferred to other sites in this way as well.
Watson initially avoided commenting on the criticism of him, but in 1989 he claimed to have treated the whole thing as a metaphor, and admitted that due to gaps in the information he was forced to improvise certain details. However, according to him the "hundred monkey" phenomenon is real even if it was not demonstrated on the island of Koshima.
A belief that took root
Following Watson's book, the belief in the "hundred monkey" phenomenon spread among various "spiritual" movements (probably not through a "consciousness leap"), and following it the belief that when the number of enlightened people in the world reaches a critical mass, all of humanity will be enlightened. Some people even tried to use "consciousness jumping" to spread ideas. Among these is Ken Keyes, who worked until his death in 1995 to increase awareness for ridding the world of nuclear weapons, and hoped that over time this awareness would create the critical mass for the occurrence of the "Hundred Monkey" event, which would rid the world of its nuclear weapons.
The belief in the "hundred monkey" phenomenon, like the other many pseudo-scientific beliefs that have taken root in our culture, is difficult to challenge through scientific criticism. There is something magical about the "critical mass" idea, which aligns well with other pseudoscientific beliefs such as telepathy and remote sensing; And among groups that do not believe in critical scientific thinking, false but magical information spreads and takes root better than true and dry information. It seems that there is indeed a phenomenon of "critical mass", the manifestation of which is that when a large enough number of people believe in some supernatural phenomenon, the chance of rooting this belief out of the culture is zero.
