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Six Monkeys And An Old Saw

Posted by timothy on from the hard-to-disprove-the-infinite dept.

Sayten241 writes "They say that an infinite amount of monkeys typing at an infinite amount of typewriters will produce literature greater than Shakespeare. Well, it has been proven that six monkeys and one computer will produce a computer that has been smashed with a rock, urinated upon, and four pages worth of the letter 's.' The end of the article states that scientifically this does prove that monkeys are more complex than random generators."

4 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. Original BBC story, more links by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was research carried out by the University of Plymouth (that's Plymouth in the UK, not in the US) at the nearby Paignton Zoo.

    And here's the original BBC News story.

    I'm not sure I see any real value in their research, but I am concerned about their methodology - that's an awfully small data set (only six monkeys, and only over one month) from which to draw any concrete conclusions...

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  2. Original idea by sunaj · · Score: 3, Informative

    If I'm not mistaken the original idea was:

    An infinate number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of keyboards for an infinite amount of time will produce the complete works of Shakespeare in the correct order! It is used to help people to gain some concept of infinity. In a universe that is infinite in space and time, anything can and will happen. An amazing concept when you think about it!

    1. Re:Original idea by Violet+Null · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hrmmmm...no, technically, if something has a non-zero probability of ocurring, and there are an infinite number of chances for it to occur, it will eventually occur (and will, in fact, occur an infinite number of times, seeing as how x% * infinity is still an infinite number).

      If your chance of getting an orange is 0, you will get an infinite number of apples and 0 oranges. But if it's anything greater than 0 -- anything at all -- you will end up with an infinite number of apples and an infinite number of oranges. By definition.

  3. Re:Federal government arts grant by jamie · · Score: 4, Informative
    "Remember the "artist" Serrano, who got paid $16,000 by Washington to drop a photo in a mayonnaise jar of his own urine"

    The National Endowment for the Arts gave $75,000 (matched two-to-one with private money) to the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Act. The Center selected a panel. The panel selected Andre Serrano. The Center gave Serrano $15,000 of Endowment money based on the quality of his work.

    - "Fact Sheet on American Family Association Fundraising Advertisement," National Endowment for the Arts, February 1990 (as cited in Culture Wars, 1992, p. 152.

    Serrano did Piss Christ in 1987. It is a photograph of a crucifix immersed in an amber liquid. In 1988 he won the fellowship from Awards in the Visual Arts, a program administered by SECCA. In that same year, Piss Christ was one of the works included in an SECCA traveling exhibition by AVA award winners.

    So: $5,000 of Washington's money was matched with $10,000 in private donations and given to SECCA. That money, along with other sources of funding for SECCA, funds the AVA program. Serrano was given an award for his work which obviously included works besides just Piss Christ.

    Just FYI :)