The 100th Monkey enigma

This enigma has always fascinated me and I believe it has some merit. There seems to be no proven source, so I won't post one. Look it up for yourself. Examples I can think of.

apple products
The super bowl / state of origin (australia)
global warming
cleaning products
edit: the winner of any election



[edit on 23-6-2010 by ppk55]

The 101st enigma...

This thread.

I am a monkey and I have no idea of what you have posted... A link, maybe...

I have no idea either?

reply to post by Mirthful Me


It just takes a quick google search. A very basic starting point is
en.wikipedia.org...

edit: please feel free to add to the list after reading about it.



[edit on 23-6-2010 by ppk55]

My friends tell me I am 100. And have a lot to do my friend.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by cushycrux]

Whether the fable is true or not ... I wonder whether there is in fact a real 100th monkey effect. As in, once a certain proportion of the population agree something is worthwhile, everyone thereafter follows like a sheep.

edit: this means, you only have to convince a certain proportion of the population and then your work is done. Very economically efficient.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by ppk55]

Roger Bannister 4 minute mile 1950's

Originally posted by ppk55
Whether the fable is true or not ... I wonder whether there is in fact a real 100th monkey effect. As in, once a certain proportion of the population agree something is worthwhile, everyone thereafter follows like a sheep.

edit: this means, you only have to convince a certain proportion of the population and then your work is done.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by ppk55]

Never forget: It's your matrix, make it nice

Add to your edit:
You only need 8 friends. But all must be 100's. Just beware the psychopaths, a lot of them are here, almost in the wrong positions.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by cushycrux]

Heard about this before under some strange name. Have spent time thinking about this some time ago. I find it worrying becuase it could be something that could also effect humans.

I think it could be a really bad thingif it is.

The reason I think this is because if some higher power can get enough people doing something bad then it can spread like a disease throughout society without people even realising why they are acting the way they are.


I guess though if you get enough people doing good things (like spreading positive energy ) then it could be fantastic if something positive spread like that.

I think it could be something that explains alot about how people sometimes find themselves doing terrible things and having no idea why?


[edit on 23-6-2010 by JohnySeagull]

Originally posted by JohnySeagull

Heard about this before under some strange name. Have spent time thinking about this some time ago. I find it worrying becuase it could be something that could also effect humans.

I think it could be a really bad thingif it is.

The reason I think this is because if some higher power can get enough people doing something bad then it can spread like a disease throughout society without people even realising why they are acting the way they are.


I guess though if you get enough people doing good things (like spreading positive energy ) then it could be fantastic if something positive spread like that.

I think it could be something that explains alot about how people sometimes find themselves doing terrible things and having no idea why?


[edit on 23-6-2010 by JohnySeagull]

It's the same effect why people buy 4g phones. It's completely senseless and idiotic. But the herd is running, so just don't think, it hurts so much. But you can also do this i an good way, find out how. But most People feel save in the herd, so...leave them or try to be a paragon. Thats all.

Originally posted by JohnySeagull
I think it could be something that explains alot about how people sometimes find themselves doing terrible things and having no idea why?
[edit on 23-6-2010 by JohnySeagull]

like buying an I-anything ? sorry, just some bad humour, you are spot on though.

reply to post by ppk55


We know what the 100th monkey effect is, but what does your OP mean?

Can you explain what its got to do with apple products for example, and what do you want us to say there isnt really any question in OP

Ill take a gues some of them like state of origin are more based on mass consciousness effects, like mass collective telekinesis of the ball to where the crowd want it to go, hence the home crowd advatage that is such a big effect even though players are so focused they mostly ignore supporters while in play.

[edit on 23-6-2010 by polarwarrior]

[edit on 23-6-2010 by polarwarrior]

Originally posted by polarwarrior
We know what the 100th monkey effect is, but what does your OP mean?

Do we ?
It seems many people have never heard of it.

reply to post by ppk55


You'd have to be living in a cave its practically mainstream, well I dunno I cant speak for the general populus but most use it like a common phrase to describe a similar effect knowing people will know the famous 100th monkey one.

Originally posted by ppk55
As in, once a certain proportion of the population agree something is worthwhile, everyone thereafter follows like a sheep.

In my understanding of the phenomenon, I would word it that once a certain proportion of the population have observed the advantage of doing a technique, there is a dynamic that causes additional members of the population to have an instinctive awareness of the technique, without ever having to go through the trial and error process or observing anything. They just know.

Originally posted by ppk55
It just takes a quick google search. A very basic starting point is
en.wikipedia.org...

The onus is on you to do the groundwork... Not the membership, we didn't start the thread, you did.

I would also point out that there is quite the chasm between a "monkey enigma" and a "monkey effect" hence the enigma.

reply to post by ppk55

Originally posted by ppk55
Whether the fable is true or not ... I wonder whether there is in fact a real 100th monkey effect. As in, once a certain proportion of the population agree something is worthwhile, everyone thereafter follows like a sheep.
[edit on 23-6-2010 by ppk55]

I can understand that point in and of itself but that isn't what you posted.

The Hundredth Monkey Effect refers to learned behaviour, the original example being

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.

en.wikipedia.org...

What you seem to be observing in the population is more down to electronic media than the Hundredth Monkey Effect.

Remain Vigilant

[edit on 23/6/10 by bonsaisert]

There are so many different types of cultures in this world, I cannot see any type of behavior inexplicably transferring between humans at all. Cultures will always exist and provide the diversity to this world that makes it so wondrous and beautiful.

some simple examples:

Eating Bacon and Eggs for breakfast - hmmm nearly 230million people in the 4th most populated country in the world don't do that and never will because of their religion.

Singing and Dancing at weddings - 1.18billion people in the 2nd most populated country isn't enough to convince the rest of the world to do the same?


To me it sounds like you just need to get out of the house and see more of the world to really get a hold of how different things really are depending where you live.

I don't really get how you can base your 100th Monkey idea being applied to humans, on a mere 40million iPhones sold to a global population of 6.69billion people.

reply to post by Mirthful Me


Ok, it's the Hundredth Monkey Effect. As posted above.

I don't want to point to any specific source as it's a generic theory with no proven instance. However, the theory goes, that once a certain proportion of people reach the same understanding, everyone else will follow.

It's impossible to list all the 100th monkey enigma theories in one post.

I'm suggesting these are examples of the phenomena. By the way .. apple could be just an apple. People do love their apples.

apple products
The super bowl / state of origin (australia)
global warming
cleaning products
edit: the winner of any election

[edit on 23-6-2010 by ppk55]

reply to post by ppk55


I have always understood the Hundredth Monkey Effect to mean the following:

-A new form of epigenetic behaviour is discovered,

-When a significant number of the group has learned the new form of behaviour the ability to carry out the new form of behaviour seems to spread throughout the rest of the species more easily

This may be an interesting model for understanding Monkeys behaviour but when it comes to Humans there are a considerable number of factors you seem to be missing out.

Remain Vigilant

[edit on 23/6/10 by bonsaisert]