Then, the inexplicable occurred. The scientists attempted
to repeat the experiment on other islands with populations of the same monkeys.
They found that at exactly the same time that the one hundredth monkey on the
first island learned to wash the potatoes, all of the other monkeys on
all the other islands began washing their potatoes too. There was no direct contact
between the first monkeys and their brethren, but, after that certain "critical
mass" of monkeys had been reached, the potato-washing meme had somehow
instantaneously jumped the physical distance.
Keyes and many psychologists and cultural anthropologists
(including at least one of our guest speakers, the psychologist and author
Jean Shinoda Bolen) believe that the same concept
illustrates
how human society passes along concepts—Hundredth Monkey Syndrome.
What does that mean to us? Simply this: We can’t reach
everyone, and we don’t have to. We only have to start with a few, and
start building towards a critical mass to make meaningful change. If we drop
a pebble in the pond, the ripples will expand.
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