[WikiEN-l] Policy Creation Procedure

[Sean Barrett]

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Start with a cage containing five apes.

In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before
long, an ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the
banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the apes with
cold water.

After a while, another ape makes an attempt with the same result, all
the apes are sprayed with cold water. This continues through several
more attempts. Pretty soon, when another ape tries to climb the stairs,
the other apes all try to prevent it.

Now, turn off the cold water. Remove one ape from the cage and replace
it with a new one. The new ape sees the banana and wants to climb the
stairs. To his horror, all of the other apes attack him. After another
attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he
will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five apes and replace it with a new
one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous
newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again, replace a
third original ape with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs
and is attacked as well. Two of the four apes that beat him have no idea
why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are
participating in the beating of the newest ape.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes that
were sprayed with cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no ape
ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?

Because that's the way they've always done it and that's the way it's
always been around here.

- --
 Sean Barrett     | Q: Magic 8-Ball, which e-mail
 sean at epoptic.com |    client should I use?
                  | A: Outlook not so good.

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