Emily Rose Laochua – In the 1950s, scientists conducted research on a group of macaque monkeys on the Japanese island of Koshima. These scientists would drop sweet potatoes on the ground for the monkeys to eat. However, one day, one young monkey took the sand covered sweet potato and rinsed it at a nearby lake, discovering that the sweet potato tasted better washed.
Not long after, more monkeys on this island adopted this ritual which eventually (and unexplainably) moved across the water to monkeys being studied in nearby islands. And although these monkeys never came into contact and were separated by water, the act of rinsing food before eating it entered these species’ collective consciousness and hence changed their pattern.
This strange event was coined the “100 Monkey Principle” which stated that once a critical number of people’s consciousness changed (and in this case that number was 100) a tipping point would occur which would lead to a change in group consciousness.