Quote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 03:41:47 AM
I have a feeling many of you will enjoy this:
http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2014/03/the-experiment.html?m=1
Quote from: Nigel on March 31, 2014, 01:12:22 PM
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/games-primates-play/201203/what-monkeys-can-teach-us-about-human-behavior-facts-fiction
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 31, 2014, 02:26:33 PM
I don't think it matters (the 100 bonobos thing was a hoax, as well). What matters is that by post 2, the OP was telling us all what horrible hive-mind monkeys we are.
Quote from: Hoopla on March 31, 2014, 03:29:07 PMQuote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 31, 2014, 02:26:33 PM
I don't think it matters (the 100 bonobos thing was a hoax, as well). What matters is that by post 2, the OP was telling us all what horrible hive-mind monkeys we are.
That's not what I took from that.
I took from it that society robotically repeats certain behaviors without any understanding (or attempt to understand) of why such actions take place, because: SHEEPLE. But, I could be jumping the gun there.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 31, 2014, 03:41:31 PMQuote from: Hoopla on March 31, 2014, 03:29:07 PMQuote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 31, 2014, 02:26:33 PM
I don't think it matters (the 100 bonobos thing was a hoax, as well). What matters is that by post 2, the OP was telling us all what horrible hive-mind monkeys we are.
That's not what I took from that.
I took from it that society robotically repeats certain behaviors without any understanding (or attempt to understand) of why such actions take place, because: SHEEPLE. But, I could be jumping the gun there.
So could I, but I doubt it.
Quote from: Hoopla on March 31, 2014, 03:47:47 PMQuote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 31, 2014, 03:41:31 PMQuote from: Hoopla on March 31, 2014, 03:29:07 PMQuote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 31, 2014, 02:26:33 PM
I don't think it matters (the 100 bonobos thing was a hoax, as well). What matters is that by post 2, the OP was telling us all what horrible hive-mind monkeys we are.
That's not what I took from that.
I took from it that society robotically repeats certain behaviors without any understanding (or attempt to understand) of why such actions take place, because: SHEEPLE. But, I could be jumping the gun there.
So could I, but I doubt it.
Your track record speaks for itself.
Quote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 11:38:46 PM
Alright then, should've known that something posted in the form of a meme-image with text on it would be a fabrication on the internet. But like what the Good Reverend Roger said, it's the message that's more important. It clearly outlines a behavioral pattern that describes the mutations apparent in many ways of life, such as religions, like Christianity for example, which most likely is barely even recognizable to the people who first practiced esoteric Christian pseudo-Jewish magic stuff.
Mainly, I just think if more people thought about the phenomenon occurring in this "experiment", it would be a good thing for the thinkers out there. A fable if you will.
Quote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 11:38:46 PM
Alright then, should've known that something posted in the form of a meme-image with text on it would be a fabrication on the internet. But like what the Good Reverend Roger said, it's the message that's more important. It clearly outlines a behavioral pattern that describes the mutations apparent in many ways of life, such as religions, like Christianity for example, which most likely is barely even recognizable to the people who first practiced esoteric Christian pseudo-Jewish magic stuff.
Mainly, I just think if more people thought about the phenomenon occurring in this "experiment", it would be a good thing for the thinkers out there. A fable if you will.
Quote from: Pæs on March 31, 2014, 11:45:25 PMQuote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 11:38:46 PM
Alright then, should've known that something posted in the form of a meme-image with text on it would be a fabrication on the internet. But like what the Good Reverend Roger said, it's the message that's more important. It clearly outlines a behavioral pattern that describes the mutations apparent in many ways of life, such as religions, like Christianity for example, which most likely is barely even recognizable to the people who first practiced esoteric Christian pseudo-Jewish magic stuff.
Mainly, I just think if more people thought about the phenomenon occurring in this "experiment", it would be a good thing for the thinkers out there. A fable if you will.
The phenomenon which the article Nigel posted, (which presumably you read, judging by your response?) refers to in saying "regardless of its cause, this [sex difference] raises serious questions about the robustness of the phenomenon" and "the real experiment didn't even make the point that MM wanted to make"?
You can't continue to use it as evidence for your position after it's been discredited so.
Quote from: Pæs on March 31, 2014, 11:52:15 PM
Trust me, I read a study about this stuff.
Quote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 11:38:46 PM
Alright then, should've known that something posted in the form of a meme-image with text on it would be a fabrication on the internet. But like what the Good Reverend Roger said, it's the message that's more important. It clearly outlines a behavioral pattern that describes the mutations apparent in many ways of life, such as religions, like Christianity for example, which most likely is barely even recognizable to the people who first practiced esoteric Christian pseudo-Jewish magic stuff.
Mainly, I just think if more people thought about the phenomenon occurring in this "experiment", it would be a good thing for the thinkers out there. A fable if you will.
Quote from: Pæs on March 31, 2014, 11:51:43 PM
This reminds me of a study I read where the scientists trained monkeys to believe that the ladder/banana experiment had taken place and that certain lessons (relating to learned behaviour and tradition) could be drawn from it. The scientists then severed the connection between the teachings or new beliefs and the experiment by dismissing the notion that the experiment had occurred at all and found that the monkeys, given updated information about their 'evidence', continued to operate as if the demonstrably false information were true.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on March 31, 2014, 11:39:44 PMQuote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 11:38:46 PM
Alright then, should've known that something posted in the form of a meme-image with text on it would be a fabrication on the internet. But like what the Good Reverend Roger said, it's the message that's more important. It clearly outlines a behavioral pattern that describes the mutations apparent in many ways of life, such as religions, like Christianity for example, which most likely is barely even recognizable to the people who first practiced esoteric Christian pseudo-Jewish magic stuff.
Mainly, I just think if more people thought about the phenomenon occurring in this "experiment", it would be a good thing for the thinkers out there. A fable if you will.
So, it's fake, but we should treat it as real?
Sort of like the free market, then.
Quote from: Nigel on April 01, 2014, 04:15:43 AMQuote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 11:38:46 PM
Alright then, should've known that something posted in the form of a meme-image with text on it would be a fabrication on the internet. But like what the Good Reverend Roger said, it's the message that's more important. It clearly outlines a behavioral pattern that describes the mutations apparent in many ways of life, such as religions, like Christianity for example, which most likely is barely even recognizable to the people who first practiced esoteric Christian pseudo-Jewish magic stuff.
Mainly, I just think if more people thought about the phenomenon occurring in this "experiment", it would be a good thing for the thinkers out there. A fable if you will.
It outlines a made-up behavioral pattern.
It's one of those anecdotes that doesn't bear repeating because it's not a real phenomenon.
It's like those "Teachable Moments" that the mommy bloggers make up out of whole cloth to convey a self-righteous image and garner attention.
Quote from: omnihil on April 01, 2014, 07:54:47 AMQuote from: Nigel on April 01, 2014, 04:15:43 AMQuote from: omnihil on March 31, 2014, 11:38:46 PM
Alright then, should've known that something posted in the form of a meme-image with text on it would be a fabrication on the internet. But like what the Good Reverend Roger said, it's the message that's more important. It clearly outlines a behavioral pattern that describes the mutations apparent in many ways of life, such as religions, like Christianity for example, which most likely is barely even recognizable to the people who first practiced esoteric Christian pseudo-Jewish magic stuff.
Mainly, I just think if more people thought about the phenomenon occurring in this "experiment", it would be a good thing for the thinkers out there. A fable if you will.
It outlines a made-up behavioral pattern.
It's one of those anecdotes that doesn't bear repeating because it's not a real phenomenon.
It's like those "Teachable Moments" that the mommy bloggers make up out of whole cloth to convey a self-righteous image and garner attention.
Not exactly what I meant, but I agree with you on what you said. I'm not saying that even though the whole thing was fiction, we should treat it like it's real. I'm saying the fiction paints a picture of a behavior that does actually exist in people. Much like many fictional movies will make people think about behaviors in themselves they may not have been previously aware of, because they were able to relate to the characters in the movie, and the situations that they found themselves in, how they reacted, etc. The movie plot should not be treated as fact, but the message in the plot is relevant and helps build perspective. However, the fact that the "experiment" was posted to trick people does disqualify it as a legitimate fictional art, but that's a different argument.
So what I meant was, oh well too bad it's fake, but at least it gets the point across about behavior that people actually partake in. There are truly people out there who simply say "Praise Jesus" because they were taught to do so, even if they have a warped understanding of his teachings. They may not even believe in him, but just adopted the personality and lifestyle.
Quote from: omnihil on April 01, 2014, 07:29:07 PMThis was meant to be a simple point, a mere statement, that I'm having to draw out to try to communicate effectively, so all in all this argument isn't that meaningful.
Quote from: omnihil
Asch conformity experiments, AMIRITE? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)
Quote from: omnihil on April 01, 2014, 07:29:07 PM
I understand your points, and just feel like miscommunication is what's taking place here.
I have already listed a real world example. Christianity, well known for it's zealots worldwide, is in fact an example of humans acting as the monkeys did, blindly following the rituals and mantras because they were taught them by their predecessors.
Quote from: Pæs on April 01, 2014, 08:42:42 PM
Do you really believe that practice of Christianity is simply mirroring for the sake of 'doing it the way it's always been done' rather than because it meets other needs of the practitioner?
Quote from: omnihil on April 01, 2014, 07:29:07 PM
This was meant to be a simple point, a mere statement, that I'm having to draw out to try to communicate effectively, so all in all this argument isn't that meaningful.
Quote from: Pæs on April 01, 2014, 08:42:42 PM
Do you really believe that practice of Christianity is simply mirroring for the sake of 'doing it the way it's always been done' rather than because it meets other needs of the practitioner?
Quote from: Net on April 01, 2014, 09:24:21 PMQuote from: Pæs on April 01, 2014, 08:42:42 PM
Do you really believe that practice of Christianity is simply mirroring for the sake of 'doing it the way it's always been done' rather than because it meets other needs of the practitioner?
Here's an interesting theory that xenophobic collectivist societies may have developed as a protection against infection:
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/bugs-like-made-germ-theory-democracy-beliefs-73958/
Quotecollectivist cultures tend to be both more xenophobic and more ethnocentric than individualist cultures.
Quote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:40:51 PMQuote from: Net on April 01, 2014, 09:24:21 PMQuote from: Pæs on April 01, 2014, 08:42:42 PM
Do you really believe that practice of Christianity is simply mirroring for the sake of 'doing it the way it's always been done' rather than because it meets other needs of the practitioner?
Here's an interesting theory that xenophobic collectivist societies may have developed as a protection against infection:
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/bugs-like-made-germ-theory-democracy-beliefs-73958/
That's a fascinating article, thanks Net.
An interesting paragraph that popped out to me:Quotecollectivist cultures tend to be both more xenophobic and more ethnocentric than individualist cultures.
It occurred to me that the USA tends to consider itself individualistic, and yet tends to display a considerable amount of xenophobia. But, this is drifting off topic.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 01, 2014, 09:42:45 PMQuote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:40:51 PMQuote from: Net on April 01, 2014, 09:24:21 PMQuote from: Pæs on April 01, 2014, 08:42:42 PM
Do you really believe that practice of Christianity is simply mirroring for the sake of 'doing it the way it's always been done' rather than because it meets other needs of the practitioner?
Here's an interesting theory that xenophobic collectivist societies may have developed as a protection against infection:
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/bugs-like-made-germ-theory-democracy-beliefs-73958/
That's a fascinating article, thanks Net.
An interesting paragraph that popped out to me:Quotecollectivist cultures tend to be both more xenophobic and more ethnocentric than individualist cultures.
It occurred to me that the USA tends to consider itself individualistic, and yet tends to display a considerable amount of xenophobia. But, this is drifting off topic.
America likes to believe it's individualist, but it is of course no such thing. We demand a level of conformity on important matters that is unheard of in Europe (excepting Britian) and Canada.
Quote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:46:19 PM
Need we look any further than enforced lawn maintenance ordinances?
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 01, 2014, 09:48:20 PMQuote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:46:19 PM
Need we look any further than enforced lawn maintenance ordinances?
Not really, but let's do it anyway. :lulz:
"You're either for us or against us."
- George W Bush
"It is treasonous to disagree with the president in wartime."
- Right wing nuts in 2003/2005, left wing nuts from 2009-present.
"People had better watch what they believe."
- Tucker Carlson, with his bare face hanging out, on Crossfire, 2005.
Quote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:50:19 PMQuote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 01, 2014, 09:48:20 PMQuote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:46:19 PM
Need we look any further than enforced lawn maintenance ordinances?
Not really, but let's do it anyway. :lulz:
"You're either for us or against us."
- George W Bush
"It is treasonous to disagree with the president in wartime."
- Right wing nuts in 2003/2005, left wing nuts from 2009-present.
"People had better watch what they believe."
- Tucker Carlson, with his bare face hanging out, on Crossfire, 2005.
Yep, and look how more than half the country treated that woman from the Dixie Chicks when she simply said she was embarrassed to come from the same state as the President...
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 01, 2014, 09:51:03 PMQuote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:50:19 PMQuote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 01, 2014, 09:48:20 PMQuote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:46:19 PM
Need we look any further than enforced lawn maintenance ordinances?
Not really, but let's do it anyway. :lulz:
"You're either for us or against us."
- George W Bush
"It is treasonous to disagree with the president in wartime."
- Right wing nuts in 2003/2005, left wing nuts from 2009-present.
"People had better watch what they believe."
- Tucker Carlson, with his bare face hanging out, on Crossfire, 2005.
Yep, and look how more than half the country treated that woman from the Dixie Chicks when she simply said she was embarrassed to come from the same state as the President...
She and her pals cried all the way to the bank from their sold-out European tour that lasted 5 years.
:lulz:
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 01, 2014, 07:34:03 PM
If that's all you were trying to say, you could have just done this:Quote from: omnihil
Asch conformity experiments, AMIRITE? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)
Quote from: Nigel on April 02, 2014, 12:10:35 AMQuote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 01, 2014, 07:34:03 PM
If that's all you were trying to say, you could have just done this:Quote from: omnihil
Asch conformity experiments, AMIRITE? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)
But LMNO, it isn't like any of us have ever studied psychology, or had conversations about social conformity or conformity experiments before.
Real conformity experiments that actually happened, that is.
Not a one of us is familiar with Asch, Milgram, or Zimbardo either for that matter. :lol:
Quote from: Pæs on April 02, 2014, 12:14:27 AMQuote from: Nigel on April 02, 2014, 12:10:35 AMQuote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 01, 2014, 07:34:03 PM
If that's all you were trying to say, you could have just done this:Quote from: omnihil
Asch conformity experiments, AMIRITE? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)
But LMNO, it isn't like any of us have ever studied psychology, or had conversations about social conformity or conformity experiments before.
Real conformity experiments that actually happened, that is.
Not a one of us is familiar with Asch, Milgram, or Zimbardo either for that matter. :lol:
Way to seek herd approval by agreeing with the anti-monkey-story agenda, Nigel. You don't even know why we don't like the monkey story, you're just dismissing it because that's the way it's always been done.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 01, 2014, 08:52:08 PMQuote from: Pæs on April 01, 2014, 08:42:42 PM
Do you really believe that practice of Christianity is simply mirroring for the sake of 'doing it the way it's always been done' rather than because it meets other needs of the practitioner?
And we all know that "Christianity" is one monolithic bloc that never, ever debates within itself. It's just 2000 years of rote behavior.
Quote from: Nigel on April 02, 2014, 12:10:35 AMQuote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 01, 2014, 07:34:03 PM
If that's all you were trying to say, you could have just done this:Quote from: omnihil
Asch conformity experiments, AMIRITE? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)
But LMNO, it isn't like any of us have ever studied psychology, or had conversations about social conformity or conformity experiments before.
Real conformity experiments that actually happened, that is.
Not a one of us is familiar with Asch, Milgram, or Zimbardo either for that matter. :lol:
Quote from: Nigel on April 02, 2014, 12:10:35 AMQuote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 01, 2014, 07:34:03 PM
If that's all you were trying to say, you could have just done this:Quote from: omnihil
Asch conformity experiments, AMIRITE? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)
But LMNO, it isn't like any of us have ever studied psychology, or had conversations about social conformity or conformity experiments before.
Real conformity experiments that actually happened, that is.
Not a one of us is familiar with Asch, Milgram, or Zimbardo either for that matter. :lol:
Quote from: (Doktor (Nephew Twiddleton (Twid)) Blight) on April 02, 2014, 05:38:29 AMQuote from: Nigel on April 02, 2014, 12:10:35 AMQuote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 01, 2014, 07:34:03 PM
If that's all you were trying to say, you could have just done this:Quote from: omnihil
Asch conformity experiments, AMIRITE? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)
But LMNO, it isn't like any of us have ever studied psychology, or had conversations about social conformity or conformity experiments before.
Real conformity experiments that actually happened, that is.
Not a one of us is familiar with Asch, Milgram, or Zimbardo either for that matter. :lol:
It would be interesting to know just how much psychology omnihil has actually studied, since, well, s/he brought it up. Let's all pull out our credentials.
I have taken one college behavioral science class. Sociology. My professor was the shit. I have +1 behavioral science.
Quote from: Nigel on April 03, 2014, 06:45:38 PM
Somehow, I have a feeling he's not coming back to argue the point. :lol:
The Monkey Experiment | There's a famous experiment where they keep a bunch of monkeys in a room for an indefinite amount of time. There's a big white staircase leading up out of the room. Every time a monkey climbs to the top of the staircase, he gets blasted back down the stairs with a hose. When this happens, every monkey in the room also gets blasted with water. This makes them very angry. Soon, the monkeys have figured it out: beat the shit out of any monkey that starts to climb the stairs. That's the new rule. At some point, they remove a monkey and send in a new one. He learns the rule quickly: don't climb the stairs. And if we're beating somebody up, join in. One by one, they replace each monkey with a new one who has to learn the rule. At some point they can turn off the hose. The monkeys will reliably prevent escape. Policing the stairs has become a cultural norm. Eventually, they have this population of monkeys who are trained to beat up any monkey that tries to escape, but don't even understand why. The experiment is run by interns who are paid in course credit. Occasionally, an intern finishes the semester and leaves. New interns join the team and everybody explains how to feed the monkeys and how to record the data. But at this point, none of the interns are from the original group, none of them have met the scientists leading this project. Most of the interns don't fully understand the point of the experiment. The scientist who began the experiment left long ago. Other researchers were assigned to the project by an administrator in order to keep this valuable experiment running. None of the remaining scientists are actually authors of the paper, or even understand what it's about. The administrator supervising the project isn't terribly involved with it. He just prolongs the experiment because it's his department's main source of funding. But he didn't begin this project, he just inherited it from his predecessor, who is on a leave of absence and hasn't been seen in some time. The company funding the experiment has a sum of money they spend annually on scientific research, mainly for tax reasons. But the person who reads and approves grants left last year. The last time anybody saw the man, he handed a huge folder to some new kid and said "make sure these stay funded." Then he disappeared up a long staircase leading into the sky. | ___________________________________________________________ |
Quote from: Cramulus on April 03, 2014, 08:06:15 PM
Here's MY version:
The Monkey Experiment
There's a famous experiment where they keep a bunch of monkeys in a room for an indefinite amount of time. There's a big white staircase leading up out of the room. Every time a monkey climbs to the top of the staircase, he gets blasted back down the stairs with a hose. When this happens, every monkey in the room also gets blasted with water. This makes them very angry.
Soon, the monkeys have figured it out: beat the shit out of any monkey that starts to climb the stairs. That's the new rule.
At some point, they remove a monkey and send in a new one. He learns the rule quickly: don't climb the stairs. And if we're beating somebody up, join in. One by one, they replace each monkey with a new one who has to learn the rule.
At some point they can turn off the hose. The monkeys will reliably prevent escape. Policing the stairs has become a cultural norm. Eventually, they have this population of monkeys who are trained to beat up any monkey that tries to escape, but don't even understand why.
The experiment is run by interns who are paid in course credit. Occasionally, an intern finishes the semester and leaves. New interns join the team and everybody explains how to feed the monkeys and how to record the data. But at this point, none of the interns are from the original group, none of them have met the scientists leading this project. Most of the interns don't fully understand the point of the experiment.
The scientist who began the experiment left long ago. Other researchers were assigned to the project by an administrator in order to keep this valuable experiment running. None of the remaining scientists are actually authors of the paper, or even understand what it's about.
The administrator supervising the project isn't terribly involved with it. He just prolongs the experiment because it's his department's main source of funding. But he didn't begin this project, he just inherited it from his predecessor, who is on a leave of absence and hasn't been seen in some time.
The company funding the experiment has a sum of money they spend annually on scientific research, mainly for tax reasons. But the person who reads and approves grants left last year. The last time anybody saw the man, he handed a huge folder to some new kid and said "make sure these stay funded." Then he disappeared up a long staircase leading into the sky.___________________________________________________________
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on April 01, 2014, 09:42:45 PMQuote from: Hoopla on April 01, 2014, 09:40:51 PMQuote from: Net on April 01, 2014, 09:24:21 PMQuote from: Pæs on April 01, 2014, 08:42:42 PM
Do you really believe that practice of Christianity is simply mirroring for the sake of 'doing it the way it's always been done' rather than because it meets other needs of the practitioner?
Here's an interesting theory that xenophobic collectivist societies may have developed as a protection against infection:
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/bugs-like-made-germ-theory-democracy-beliefs-73958/
That's a fascinating article, thanks Net.
An interesting paragraph that popped out to me:Quotecollectivist cultures tend to be both more xenophobic and more ethnocentric than individualist cultures.
It occurred to me that the USA tends to consider itself individualistic, and yet tends to display a considerable amount of xenophobia. But, this is drifting off topic.
America likes to believe it's individualist, but it is of course no such thing. We demand a level of conformity on important matters that is unheard of in Europe (excepting Britian) and Canada.
Quote from: Nigel on April 03, 2014, 09:14:27 PM
I got an actual sense of WHOA from reading that. 10/10, much better than the original. Permission to repost next time I see the monkey meme on Facebook?
Quote from: Cramulus on April 03, 2014, 08:06:15 PMStill beautiful, man
Here's MY version:
The Monkey Experiment
There's a famous experiment where they keep a bunch of monkeys in a room for an indefinite amount of time. There's a big white staircase leading up out of the room. Every time a monkey climbs to the top of the staircase, he gets blasted back down the stairs with a hose. When this happens, every monkey in the room also gets blasted with water. This makes them very angry.
Soon, the monkeys have figured it out: beat the shit out of any monkey that starts to climb the stairs. That's the new rule.
At some point, they remove a monkey and send in a new one. He learns the rule quickly: don't climb the stairs. And if we're beating somebody up, join in. One by one, they replace each monkey with a new one who has to learn the rule.
At some point they can turn off the hose. The monkeys will reliably prevent escape. Policing the stairs has become a cultural norm. Eventually, they have this population of monkeys who are trained to beat up any monkey that tries to escape, but don't even understand why.
The experiment is run by interns who are paid in course credit. Occasionally, an intern finishes the semester and leaves. New interns join the team and everybody explains how to feed the monkeys and how to record the data. But at this point, none of the interns are from the original group, none of them have met the scientists leading this project. Most of the interns don't fully understand the point of the experiment.
The scientist who began the experiment left long ago. Other researchers were assigned to the project by an administrator in order to keep this valuable experiment running. None of the remaining scientists are actually authors of the paper, or even understand what it's about.
The administrator supervising the project isn't terribly involved with it. He just prolongs the experiment because it's his department's main source of funding. But he didn't begin this project, he just inherited it from his predecessor, who is on a leave of absence and hasn't been seen in some time.
The company funding the experiment has a sum of money they spend annually on scientific research, mainly for tax reasons. But the person who reads and approves grants left last year. The last time anybody saw the man, he handed a huge folder to some new kid and said "make sure these stay funded." Then he disappeared up a long staircase leading into the sky.___________________________________________________________