Ryan+Tozier+MonkeySphere

The Monkeysphere

The Monkeysphere is a concept first proposed by Robin Dunbar that states that the maximum number of healthy human can handle based on cognitive limitations of our brains is 150 relationships. The Monkeysphere refers to your personal group of 150 or less people who you are capable of viewing as real people. David Orr’s call to recognize our personal effect on future generations does not work because it requires people to conceive those outside their Monkeysphere, which is impossible. This idea explains many of the problems faced by our generation. It explains our wasteful society and the reason people are having such trouble making changes to their lives so they move to a more sustainable lifestyle. The cause is the Monkeysphere because we are unable to view those outside the sphere as humans it is near impossible for the average person to understand or care about the effects of choices concerning climate change. This is an issue because sustainability issues for the most part arise from those previously mentioned choices compounding millions of times over. In addition, the understanding of these issues can only happen when one considers the impact on a much larger scale that the Monkeysphere, this makes comprehension extremely difficult.

The question is how to respond to this knowledge about the Monkeysphere. For educators in particular this is a challenge. The best way to educate students is using David Wong’s T-R-Y method. The idea behind this method is that when making a decision you need to slow down and consider your options than the effect of your choices. Unfortunately, this fits very poorly with our public school systems. The public school system has a bad habit of drilling facts and ideas into kids so that their efficiency in problem solving is high. The problem with this efficiency is that when students see a problem they simplify it as much as possible and make quick decision so that they can move to the next problem set. In effect this makes it almost impossible to educate students to understand beyond the Monkeysphere. The best way that I see to help educate students understand this principle is to force them to face someone outside their Monkeysphere. In a school environment a good choice would be a Sanitation Engineer because they perform a job that most students will never think about and don’t interact with the kids. First, I would explain the concept of the Monkeysphere so that they sufficiently understood, then I would point out a particular bad habit that affected the Sanitation Engineer. Once I got their excuses, I would usher in the guest and tell the students that this person suffered because of their decision. The guest would then explain all the things that students do that put extra effort on him. I would finish by saying this is one person outside your Monkeysphere from now on think before you act.