PARABLE OF THE MONKEYS

Old ways learned the hard way.

I will tell you the story the way it was told to me.

A team of scientists were conducting research into animal behaviour. They placed six monkeys in an enclosure and numbered them 1a through 6a. At the centre of the enclosure was an electrified metal ladder with a tasty food stash at the top.

One by one, every monkey attempted to reach the food, but every time they touched the ladder they got a nasty (but not fatal) electric shock. After many attempts, the monkeys gave up on reaching the treats at the top of the ladder. Whatever benefit they might have gained from the food was outweighed by the pain of the shocks.

The scientists removed Monkey 1a from the group and replaced it with Monkey 1b, who had never been in the enclosure before. Naturally, the newcomer wanted the food at the top of the ladder, but every time Monkey 1b tried reached for the ladder the other monkeys beat him. The beatings continued until Monkey 1b gave up.

Next, the scientists removed Monkey 2a from the enclosure and replaced him with Monkey 2b. Monkey 2b tried to reach the ladder but was intercepted by the others and beaten up. Monkey 1b participated enthousiastically in the beating. After going through this a few more times, Monkey 2b also gave up.

Eventually the original cohort of monkeys 1a - 6a had been replaced by monkeys 1b - 6b. Every time a newcomer entered the enclosure, they would try to reach the ladder, and every time the other five monkeys would beat them until they gave up. Even after multiple cohorts were cycled through, Monkey 3d would beat up Monkey 2e before they could touch the ladder.

The original cohort of monkeys had learned a painful lesson by trial and error, and beat that lesson into the next cohort. The beatings were painful was not nearly as painful as the electric shocks had been. Each cohort acquired this behaviour and passed it on to the next.

Even when the scientists disabled the electric circuit, none of the monkeys made an attempt to climb up and reach the food. They were conditioned to avoid the ladder, not because they thought ladder was dangerous, but because the other monkeys would beat them for trying.

I first heard the parable of the monkeys as a young Private. A Master Corporal who had recently returned from Afghanistan heard me bitching about some bullshit and gave me a lesson in how things were. He told me that the monkeys represent the army and this is how the army works.

I still think about the story a lot. When I was young and dumb, I held on to it as an ego shield: "they're beating us because they they don't know what else to do." Spend a few years in the ranks and you'll probably think that way too.

Now that I'm an older and (somewhat) wiser monkey, I’ve dished out a few lessons myself. Nowadays I can’t help but see the story in a different light. The old monkeys could have waved their arms and screamed as the new ones approached the ladder, but I bet five out of every six would still get shocked, and since these are army monkeys four out of six would shock themselves multiple times.

The monkey culture was harsh but it prevented the young ones from getting shocked. As time passed and monkeys were swapped out, none of them touched the ladder, but at the same time none of them knew the actual reason why touching the ladder was bad. “We’ve always done it this way” Monkey 4e thinks has he lays a beating on Monkey 3f. So you get beat down a few times and it saves you from shocks, but if nobody's getting shocked then how do we know if the ladder is dangerous?

Image credit: Playing Monkeys by Ohara Koson.