Waldo Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Given enough time, and enough monkeys! it is said they will eventually write out the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Will there by any typos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dosxuk Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Sadly the internet has proven this wrong. We have the infinite monkeys, and all they seem to be bothered about it whether the monkey sitting opposite them is the same nationality and religion as themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Given enough time, and enough monkeys! it is said they will eventually write out the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Will there by any typos? "By any typos"? Maybe they've already started on your post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winder Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I think the original quote involved an infinite number of monkeys and the complete works of Shakesphere but the principle is the same, can you imagine being the editor.. "Hey Bob, I think we've got something at last! 'To be or not to be, that is the drfsffggghhhgfff$*%, damn, the rest of the page is covered in monkey poo, as you were, sigh" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Yaeh, they'd have at least a hundred copies, where they've just gotten one letter wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 It is inevitably true simply because of the nature of infinity. If an endless supply of apes did every possible combination of things with a typewriter, that would of necessity include typing out every possible combination of letters of every possible length, including "T$£TQGAWBNSFG", "22222222222222222222222222" and a perfect copy of every book ever written - indeed, of every book that ever could be written. And, of course, as well as the perfect copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare, there would several million copies where one letter was incorrectly replaced by an A, and the same where it's replaced by a B, and so on through the alphabet. And all the versions with exactly two mistakes, and exactly three, and so on endlessly.... and the same for every possible book, and all of those infinity of infinities of books would be as nothing compared to the vastly greater infinity of other things they did. In practice, this would not happen within the lifespan of the entire Universe even if the Universe were to last for a thousand million times longer than any estimate of its potential lifespan that has ever been made. Forever really does mean forever. Indeed, it would be infinitely faster for the apes to create the Complete Works of Shakespeare by taking a few million years to evolve into a human species capable of writing it by intent. Which is, of course, what actually happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Indeed, it would be infinitely faster for the apes to create the Complete Works of Shakespeare by taking a few million years to evolve into a human species capable of writing it by intent. Which is, of course, what actually happened. No- it's what you and Darwin would have us believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 No- it's what you and Darwin would have us believe. The proof of evolution long pre-dates Darwin. All he did was to demonstrate a viable mechanism for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 In practice, this would not happen within the lifespan of the entire Universe even if the Universe were to last for a thousand million times longer than any estimate of its potential lifespan that has ever been made. Forever really does mean forever. If there were an infinite number of monkeys, surely at least one of them would write it correclt on it's first attempt? So maybe a day or two, depending on how fast that particular monkey typed. In fact, given an infinite number of monkeys, wouldn't an infinite amount of monkeys, type out the book correcly on their first attempt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 If there were an infinite number of monkeys, surely at least one of them would write it correclt on it's first attempt? So maybe a day or two, depending on how fast that particular monkey typed. If you had an infinite number of monkeys to begin with, that is true. I was thinking of an endless supply so that you could replace the ones who died, which would mean allowing an infinite amount of time. Neither option is exactly practicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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