--- title: "The100: chimps, humans and Donkey Kong" description: “That’s my birthday too!” Ever met someone who has the same birthday as you? Thought it a bit of a coincidence? Well, if there are 23 people in a room there is  >50% chance of 2 people sharing the same birthday. Take this brilliant interactive birthday paradox for a spin yourself. Now if only there was … image: https://hello.watchmethink.com/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(21).png --- [![Bombayworks logotype](https://hello.watchmethink.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/WatchMeThink_September_2023/images/wmt-logo_inverse.svg "Bombayworks logotype")](https://watchmethink.com/) - [What we do](https://watchmethink.com/#) - [Watch Me Explore](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-explore) - [Watch Me Develop](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-develop) - [Watch Me Use](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-use) - [Watch Me Shop](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-shop) - [Who it's for](https://watchmethink.com/#) - [Consumer Insights](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/consumer-insights) - [Shopper Insights](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/shopper-insights) - [Category Management](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/category-mangement) - [Innovation & Product Development](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/innovation) - [Sensory & Consumer Science](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/consumer-science) - [Packaging](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/packaging) - [Marketing](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/marketing) - [About](https://watchmethink.com/about) - [The 100 Blog](https://blog.watchmethink.com/) - [Contact](https://watchmethink.com/contact) - [Login](https://watchmethink.com/dashboard) - [Sign up](https://watchmethink.com/#) - [Corporate users](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/client) - [Request registration here](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/client) - [Consumer](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/contributor) - [Get paid to review products](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/contributor) Menu # The100: chimps, humans and Donkey Kong - Home - [Blog](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog) - The100: chimps, humans and Donkey Kong - [Blog home /](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog) [Alistair Vince](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/author/alistair-vince) 05/02/2018 [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) [0 Comments](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-chimps-humans-and-donkey-kong#postComment) 2 Minutes ### **“That’s my birthday too!”** Ever met someone who has the same birthday as you? Thought it a bit of a coincidence? Well, if there are 23 people in a room there is  >50% chance of 2 people sharing the same birthday. Take this brilliant interactive [birthday paradox](https://pudding.cool/2018/04/birthday-paradox/) for a spin yourself. Now if only there was a mathematical reduction for people sharing the same behaviours… ### **Trender bender** You know all those trend reports that companies just love to send your way – just to show how great they are, of course?  [Well here they are all in one place](http://strategydeck.com/trends/). Note: there’s a lot of overlap (which is good). Note: there are 1000s of them (which isn’t so good). Personally, this all gives me the heebeegeebees. There are trends everywhere. In everything. It depends on what scale you choose to look at. How scatter gunned (more chance to be right) or targeted (more chance to be wrong) you want to go. If you presented 3 trends to a chimp, they’d as likely get 1 right every single year. If that was a human, we’d think them a genius. ### **Reversible vs. irreversible decisions** > *We often think that collecting as much information as possible will help us make the best decisions. Sometimes that’s true, but sometimes it hamstrings our progress. Other times it can be flat out dangerous*. [This is a 6 min read to help you make better decisions](https://www.fs.blog/2018/04/reversible-irreversible-decisions/). So first decision coming up – should you read this? Decision: Yes. ### **…on getting noticed** The Wright brothers conquered flight on December 17th, 1903. [No-one cared](http://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/when-you-change-the-world-and-no-one-notices/). Literally no-one noticed. They made a person in some contraption fly in the air, and no-one batted an eyelid. > *Things that are instantly adored are usually just slight variations over existing products. We love them because they’re familiar. The most innovative products – the ones that truly change the world – are almost never understood at first, even by really smart people.* I feel less bad about the amount of people that read my emails now. ### **Things change** One of my favourite films, The Big Lebowski, is 20 years old, and the Washington Post went back and [asked the critics who panned it back then, what they thought now](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/03/06/the-big-lebowski-is-20-we-reached-out-to-the-critics-who-panned-it-to-see-what-they-think-now/?utm_term=.6b6075188fb1). How opinions change! Think we wrote something about that somewhere 🙂 Another thing that has changed is the [holder of Donkey Kong’s highest score](http://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/king-of-kong-stripped-of-title-1202751358/). It seems there’s been some cheating. [One of the best documentaries of all time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi2lApoZ5lY) has just had a barrel thrown in its works. ### **And finally… it’s world cup time** Not the football one, but Transit Maps – yes there is such a thing! The final took place this week between Moscow and Santiago, with London in a third place play-off with Boston. [You can find out who won here](http://transitmap.net/post/172499351320/transitmapsworld-cup-2018).   --- #### Tag: [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) #### Share: - [Follow us on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-chimps-humans-and-donkey-kong) - [Follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-chimps-humans-and-donkey-kong&text=The100:%20chimps,%20humans%20and%20Donkey%20Kong) - [Follow us on Linkedin](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-chimps-humans-and-donkey-kong) - [Follow us on Pinterest](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-chimps-humans-and-donkey-kong&text=The100:%20chimps,%20humans%20and%20Donkey%20Kongdescription=“That’s%20my%20birthday%20too!”%20Ever%20met%20someone%20who%20has%20the%20same%20birthday%20as%20you?&media=https://3461170.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/3461170/Untitled%20design%20%2821%29.png) --- --- ## From the archives If you like The100, maybe even found it vaguely enjoyable (steady now), you can have a ganders at our previous issues. Fill your boots. [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) 04 September, 2026 #### [The100: Patterns that aren't, time well spent and the knights of Arundel](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-patterns-that-arent-time-well-spent-and-the-knights-of-arundel) The leadership of sound bites It’s a strange old time in research and insights at the moment, eh?… [Read More](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-patterns-that-arent-time-well-spent-and-the-knights-of-arundel) [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) 21 August, 2026 #### [The100: Neurononsense, the gym test and the Republic of Olvana](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-neurononsense-the-gym-test-and-the-republic-of-olvana) Cite me if you can If I had a cent for every time I heard “95% of purchase decisions are… [Read More](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-neurononsense-the-gym-test-and-the-republic-of-olvana) [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) 07 August, 2026 #### [The100: Discount loops, The Batman Effect and crimes against the Y axis](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-discount-loops-the-batman-effect-and-crimes-against-the-y-axis) Yellow sticker syndrome Mark Ritson has staged an intervention against price promotions and given… [Read More](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-discount-loops-the-batman-effect-and-crimes-against-the-y-axis) - Get started - [Login](https://watchmethink.com/account/login) - [Sign up: Corporate User](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/client) - [Sign up: Consumer](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/contributor) - Resources - [Terms for Thinkers](https://watchmethink.com/terms) - [Terms for Adhoc Work](https://watchmethink.com/terms-for-adhoc-work) - [Terms for Subscriptions](https://watchmethink.com/terms-for-subscriptions) - [Terms for Agents](https://watchmethink.com/agent) - About - [Contact us](https://watchmethink.com/contact) - [About us](https://watchmethink.com/about) - [Blog](https://blog.watchmethink.com/) - [Privacy policy](https://watchmethink.com/privacy) - [Equality, diversity and labour standards](https://watchmethink.com/equality-diversity-labour-standards) - Social - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/watch-me-think) - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/watchmethink) ![cyber-essentials-plus](https://hello.watchmethink.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WatchMeThink_September_2023/images/cyber-essentials-plus.png?width=96&name=cyber-essentials-plus.png "cyber-essentials-plus") ![mrs-logo-cps](https://hello.watchmethink.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WatchMeThink_September_2023/images/mrs-logo-cps.png?width=216&name=mrs-logo-cps.png "mrs-logo-cps") ![watch](https://hello.watchmethink.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WatchMeThink_September_2023/images/watch.png?width=213&name=watch.png "watch") Watch Me Think © 2025. All rights reserved. ![](https://px.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=1498698&fmt=gif) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Alistair Vince", "url" : "https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/author/alistair-vince" }, "dateModified" : "2025-12-01T14:40:53.239Z", "datePublished" : "2018-05-02T11:05:14.000Z", "headline" : "The100: chimps, humans and Donkey Kong", "image" : [ "https://hello.watchmethink.com/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(21).png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-chimps-humans-and-donkey-kong", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://hello.watchmethink.com/hubfs/wmt_logo_rgb_for-web-1.png" }, "name" : "Watch Me Think" } } ```