When an Idea's Time has Come
Ideas can take on a life of their own when we share them with others. However, I have also noted many times that the same idea will occur independently with other separate people at similar times even on the other side of the world. This has been referred to as the hundredth monkey effect.
From Wikipedia:
The story of the hundredth monkey effect was published in Lyall Watson's foreword to Lawrence Blair's Rhythms of Vision in 1975,[2] and spread with the appearance of Watson's 1979 book Lifetide. The account is that unidentified scientists were conducting a study of macaque monkeys on the Japanese island of Koshima in 1952.[3] These scientists observed that some of these 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 concluded that the researchers observed that once a critical number of monkeys was reached, i.e., the hundredth monkey, this previously learned behavior instantly spread across the water to monkeys on nearby islands.
The article goes on to say the theory was discredited, but I can say from personal experience, I have indeed experienced the effect.
In the hey day of the industrial revolution, there are plenty of examples of inventors arriving at similar inventions independently of each other. This often led to history awarding the discovery or invention to some one else.
To Jungian thought, this phenomenon is not at all strange, as the theory goes that we all share a collective awareness, some being more conscious of it than others. These few then pick up on the idea who's idea for which its time has come.
While for many, this might seem like hocus pocus, others argue that Quantum Physics is now demonstrating that particles separated by space can be entangled, that the state of one can affect the other. We are made of the same stuff as the rest of the universe, so, could not this effect come to play with us?
Regardless of how an idea finds life, once it is shared and starts to spread, the genie can not be put back into the bottle. We only have to look at internet age and especially in recent years how memes take on their own life.
Phenomenon have their time, and there is nothing (?) to stop them. It is like a tide, you can't hold it back, it will rise, peak and then ebb away leaving the patterns in the sand that only hint at what was.
As everything continues to flow in the moment, even the collective unconscious is changing with the endless accretion of experience we each contribute. This is the well spring of inspiration that speaks to certain individuals who cannot deny the flux of the Zeitgeist as it buoys them to action, the consequences of which can be far reaching in as much a tsunami may reach inland.
"With our thoughts, we make the world." Buddha.
"When Ideas Take Shape", Leo Plaw, 30 x 24cm, oil on canvas
Leave a comment below, upvote and resteem if you like it.
More of my artwork can be found on my website. LeoPlaw.com
And if it takes your fancy, subscribe to my newsletter.
Hello @leoplaw, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!
Thank you for the upvote, here's one back at you I'll look out for posts from @creativecrypto.
aaaaaaah the hundredth monkey! that is super interesting... and i think there's definitely some truth to it, like as soon as enough of the population adopted something it will be then be proliferated fully~ so cool~ kinda scary but also cool XD
and your drawings are very lovely as always * ___ * the way you form limbs and how you accentuate light and dark is very beautiful~
upvotes
Thank you @veryspider! And an upvote back at you. =)
Yes, strange directions the collective consciousness goes, or doesn't go. Take for instance. The Romans already new about steam power, but failed to apply it. Then two thousand years later, voila, the Industrial Revolution and all of the technological developments that followed.
I very much believe in this affect. In fact this sort of 'oneness' that can happen is really a series of changing events set in a time frame where the collective consciousness extropolates these changes from a sort of quantum level current that exists we are plugged into. I think, when the creators of A.I. find out this to be as it is, then a.i. will become even more real and lifelike. As it could plug into the collective conscious of a time frame and extrapolate 'new ideas' much as the human consciousness does. Interesting times and interesting you have felt such things. :)
Oh and I love this piece too, by the way, that goes without saying, but I thought I had better say it :)
AI will never be alive. It is a complicated iterative piece of software that is limited by the data it is given. It will always be an automaton.The fact we are organic beings, birthed from other organic beings, is what gives us the connection to that level of oneness.
Thank you Donna! Happy to hear you like the piece. =)
Oh, good, that is a positive way to look at it. I hope you are right. I feel, though, that the calculation of the brain are just that calculations and will be recreated, but I do hope you are right :)
We are more than binary logic. In fact reasoning, logic is actually one of our lesser functions. We are infinitely more complex than that, as proven by our irrational natures. In our modern world, these aspects of ourselves are denigrated, devalued, because they are hard to control, by us or by others. It is however, the very thing, that if we make peace with it, even befriend it, it becomes the source of unlimited power and motivation that drives us on to achieve the impossible.
Do androids dream of electric sheep? No. Therein is why we will always be more advanced than purported "intelligent" software.
I hope so. I mean I know a.i. is in it's infancy currently and that the human mind is a complex combination of organic and electric, so hopefully we shall always be the top dog.
I just hope a machine that 'learns' doesn't programme itself in a new form of 'living'. I know that in some ways self awareness and human intelligence is based on extrapolation of information garnered from our senses in our environment and then formulated to make our thoughts and intelligence. I worry about programming that already exists that takes information and comes up with its own new version of complexity.
I guess I don't worry that a machine will exist that will be LIKE a human but that will be better than a human in recreation and if we are not seen a necessity in one of the running simulated calculations would be simply ignored out of existence.
I believe in the human spirit though, which is sort of what my Singularity world/paintings are about. These creatures that were a hybrid of humans trying to improve themselves with more mechanized parts and implanted chips until they became more machine. And in a sense they are looking for that old humanity which in its spirit still exists in this world I created and is trying to win out over the binary. I mean that is what is so great about art for me, making up fun 'what ifs' and just having fun with it.
I am glad you feel so positive about humanity's supremacy. I hope and want you to be right :)
I just found the video I was referring to that discusses the dangers of AI.
This is so funny, as I have actually watched this one! I love watching the various online discussions of AI and also where robotics are going. The Boston Dynamic bots are probably the most that 'scare me' as it were.
Thank you for this, though, and I'll happily chat about ai whenever, though I'm not that informed and as I said, I like your hopeful look to the future :)
Boston Dynamic are the most public in their work. The Japanese are also very busy. There will be slew of companies worldwide working on both AI and robotics because of the perceived market for it. The military have the deepest pockets to fund the research and development. Much of the modern technology we use today is the result of such.
We have to do more than hope and tack an active interest in how the technology is being applied, just as we are here with blockchain tech. If we don't educate ourselves, then we will be made obsolete.
This is very deep, and gives pause to reflection - I never heard of the 100 Monkey Effect before.
The only monkeys I know are from the "Infinite monkey theorem......" so once I mentioned that the same could apply to art - and then I found Nonja the Orangutan who paints and is also a photographer, in Schönbrunn, Vienna, and that closed the circle!
upvoted, resteemed and all that jazz!
There is growing evidence, because we are now caring to look, that great apes are capable of creative thinking and other higher cognitive functions. In recent years, researchers have found speculative evidence that wild chimpanzees may even some form of superstition or religion. Their activities are startlingly similar to some human traditions in Africa. The problem is, wild populations of chimps are being wiped out and it is a race against time before this "culture" is lost.
Thank you most kindly Otto for the upvote, resteem and all that jazz. =)
I so love your art, it is perfect for this kind of pondering. :) Before I go ahead, I love how you shade him. Great forms!
Anyways, I didn't know this 'effect' had a name. It makes sense I suppose - I believe that our consciousness isn't as independent as we would like to think and that the theory of collective consciousness exists.
Nice quote by Buddha.
Cheers,
Dm7
Thank you @dm7! Your comment gets an upvote. ;-)
Our consciousness is a spectrum, a rainbow, where do you want to draw the divisions? It is arbitrary.
You're welcome @leoplaw :) Yeah, more than often I've noticed that the labels are just labels because we humans don't understand anything beyond that point. I mean, we used to call earth flat before we realized it is a spherical planet. :)
Human consciousness by its very nature leaves out more than what our senses take in. It is how we stop being overwhelmed and allows us to function.
Very true. Often I wonder if it's not just about being overwhelmed, but more like a practical way to live. I mean we evolved for this exact reason, to survive. Nothing more. I assume that's same for our consciousness. shrug
One is the consequence of the other. If we were overwhelmed, we would not be able to practically or efficiently live and hence die out. We only have to look at the broken dysfunctional people on the street. They are overwhelmed by certain issues and cease to function in a healthy manner.
However, if we can integrate a certain amount of extra awareness, it then gives a distinct advantage.
Yup, well said. I agree. It's all about being in balance and being pragmatic, once that's nailed down - anything extra is awesome.
Love the theory of collective consciousness. We see it so often in so many invention races or theories. Think about the space race. People coming up with similar ideas at the same time. There was also the case of the foil lid milk bottles. Most of us in our late 30's or older will remember getting milk delivered and left on our doorsteps. Back then the bottles had foil lids, then birds in the Northern hemisphere discovered that they could peck through the foil to get to the liquid. In no time birds in the Southern hemisphere were doing the same thing. Soon after the foil lids were replaced with plastic.
Yes, this what I am talking about, things have their time, and there is nothing (?) to stop them. It is like a tide, you can't hold it back, it will rise, peak and then ebb away leaving the patterns in the sand that only hint at what was.
He he... yes, I remember milk bottles with tin foils. ;-)
That's the first time I've heard the collective unconscious sound romantic ;) may the sands of time and ideas continue to flow
as everything continues to flow in the moment, even the collective unconscious is changing with the endless accretion of experience we each contribute. This is the well spring of inspiration that speaks to certain individuals who cannot deny the flux of the Zeitgeist as it buoys them to action, the consequences of which can be far reaching in as much a tsunami may reach inland.