Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked by pixellle on April 22, 2021
Synopsis: A monkey has been raised from birth in a “trick” cage. If the monkey places an object in a certain place and covers it with a bowl or bucket, there’s a trap door, and scientists take the object and place it in the new location.
When the monkey is grown, they move the monkey to a regular cage. The first time the monkey tries to do the “cover” trick (I guess it makes more sense if it doubles the treat, since that’s the motivation), and it doesn’t work, the monkey freezes. Then it tries again. To the surprise of the scientists, the object appears in the expected place.
The explanation was that the monkey’s belief in its physical reality was stronger than the scientists’ and therefore the monkey’s expectation “forced” its “reality” to exist. The scientists are always questioning, but the monkey’s belief was total.
Does anyone recognize this story? I think it could have been written any time from around 1968 – 1988. I’ve been trying to track it down for years. Please help!! Thanks!!
(This question was answered ten months ago in a comment by Covertwalrus, who apparently does not intend to post an answer, so I'll do it.)
The story is indeed "Susie's Reality" by Bob Stickgold aka Robert Stickgold, PhD, originally published in Worlds of If, May-June 1973, available at the Internet Archive. The story is just as you described it:
Chuck was waiting when they reached the lab and he was eager to get started. Steve gave Susie her nut and chatted inanely with her for a couple of minutes. Then he gave Susie the watch to play with. As always, Susie accepted it readily. She danced around the cage, pausing now and then to listen to its ticking. After a few minutes Steve wrestled it away from her and slipped it under the bowl. This time it would stay there. In more than a thousand trials during the past year Susie had always seen it disappear and reappear behind Mama. This time it would not.
As always, Susie ran to the surrogate Mama and reached for the watch. It wasn’t there. Susie froze. She sat motionless for exactly thirty seconds and then started screaming wildly. Steve showed Susie the watch under the bowl and then covered it again. She stared at the bowl for long seconds and then slowly lifted her hands to cover her eyes.
“She’s trying to' make it disappear,” whispered Sue. “She wants it to disappear. Oh, God — she will go mad this time.”
Susie uncovered her eyes, walked cautiously to Mama, and peered behind the dummy parent. Immediately she started chattering happily. She reached behind Mama. In an instant she had the watch in her hand.
For a long time Steve, Sue and Chuck simply stared at Susie and the watch. No one said a word. No one moved. What was there to say? Without breaking the silence Steve examined the cage. The trapdoors were all wired properly. The releases were in position. The loading platforms were all empty and the receptacle beneath the bowl was empty. He opened the door to the cage and lifted the bowl. There was nothing there. Three blank faces stared at the bowl.
Steve turned to the others. “Have I gone crazy? Did either of you see it? It disappeared. Didn’t it?” His voice verged on hysteria.
Answered by user14111 on April 22, 2021
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