never did Shakespeare when I was in high school (1999-2003), but I did go to Stratford-upon_Avon with my older brother eight years ago (got myself a keychain and a sonnets book as souvenirs)
Of course, the idea is not what monkeys do, but rather the idea of randomly generating letters. The number of randomly generated letters needed to accomplish Peter’s goal would likely require a volume of paper exceeding that of the galaxy, if not the observable universe.
You need to increase the percentage of vowels to get the right consonant/vowel balance. You don’t want too many consonants in a row because the word becomes unpronounceable. It is possible to write a computer program that generates pronounceable words.
Back in the day, I worked on a classified government project. We would have to declassify the hard drives by writing all 1s, all 0s and all of any other character before we could use them again. We chose an asterisk.
One day a government auditor type came by and asked us if we could “prove” that the disk was declassified. It was ONLY a 40 MG hard drive (and we did a lot with it). He asked, theoretically, what it would take to get a printout. So at 130 characters a second, fanfold paper, …
We told him that it would take about a half week, if the printer didn’t burn out – and we had no way to change the ribbon on the fly. Also the stack of paper was estimated to be floor to ceiling about two times over. Then we asked him who was going to read it?
He laughed. We setted for streaming the characters to a CRT. He watched for several minutes and said that he was convinced.
The idea behind the infinite monkey theorem is that you can get order (e.g. the works of Shakespear) from chaos (e.g. randomely generated text). The problem (actually one of many problems) with this is that the typewriter (or, in Peter’s case, the computer) isn’t a chaotic assemblage of random parts, but is an intelligently designed and manufactured machine that works in a pre-determined way to produce an intelligent result. Niether are the letters generated by the monkeys or the computer random symbols. They are intelligently designed sembols used by intelligent beings to convey intelligent thought. So, what the infinite monkey theorem really proves is that you can get order from intelligently designed parts that are specifically intended to produce such order.
When an 18 wheeler loaded with paper stopped at the house, Roger and Andy learned what was going on. They canceled the order. They then asked Jason to calculate how much paper would be used before there was a 20% chance something like a decent book report would be printed, and how much time it would take.
This brings up the question of how the first useful DNA chain happened to occur, and how the mechanisms for using it came about. The whole theory of “Intelligent Design” is based on the fact that you don’t get information from random fluctuations, but from an intelligence. A fascinating hint at the existence of a Creator. Billions of years of randomness ain’t enough.
The first computer program I wrote for my very first home computer, generated a random character in a random color in a random spot on the TV screen (computer used the TV as the monitor; 17 characters across, 8 lines down). After awhile, it was just a moving mass of colors, kind of mesmerizing. I then moved on to program working versions of the games “Battleship” and “Robotwar”…
We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually produce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.
Even if the computer does generate a reasonable “Hamlet” book report in the midst of all the randomness, it would be of no use, since I doubt that Peter would be able to recognize it for what it was.
Templo S.U.D. over 3 years ago
never did Shakespeare when I was in high school (1999-2003), but I did go to Stratford-upon_Avon with my older brother eight years ago (got myself a keychain and a sonnets book as souvenirs)
Robert4170 over 3 years ago
Of course, the idea is not what monkeys do, but rather the idea of randomly generating letters. The number of randomly generated letters needed to accomplish Peter’s goal would likely require a volume of paper exceeding that of the galaxy, if not the observable universe.
sirbadger over 3 years ago
You need to increase the percentage of vowels to get the right consonant/vowel balance. You don’t want too many consonants in a row because the word becomes unpronounceable. It is possible to write a computer program that generates pronounceable words.
Kwen over 3 years ago
A least, when Roger finds the printer cartridges bill, this report will be the last of you problems …
fuzzbucket Premium Member over 3 years ago
Who buys the paper?
tripwire45 over 3 years ago
Actually, the internet proves that adage to be untrue.
jpayne4040 over 3 years ago
I love reading and read many books when I was a kid, but I found Shakespeare to be incredibly boring!
dflak over 3 years ago
Back in the day, I worked on a classified government project. We would have to declassify the hard drives by writing all 1s, all 0s and all of any other character before we could use them again. We chose an asterisk.
One day a government auditor type came by and asked us if we could “prove” that the disk was declassified. It was ONLY a 40 MG hard drive (and we did a lot with it). He asked, theoretically, what it would take to get a printout. So at 130 characters a second, fanfold paper, …
We told him that it would take about a half week, if the printer didn’t burn out – and we had no way to change the ribbon on the fly. Also the stack of paper was estimated to be floor to ceiling about two times over. Then we asked him who was going to read it?
He laughed. We setted for streaming the characters to a CRT. He watched for several minutes and said that he was convinced.
Purple People Eater over 3 years ago
The idea behind the infinite monkey theorem is that you can get order (e.g. the works of Shakespear) from chaos (e.g. randomely generated text). The problem (actually one of many problems) with this is that the typewriter (or, in Peter’s case, the computer) isn’t a chaotic assemblage of random parts, but is an intelligently designed and manufactured machine that works in a pre-determined way to produce an intelligent result. Niether are the letters generated by the monkeys or the computer random symbols. They are intelligently designed sembols used by intelligent beings to convey intelligent thought. So, what the infinite monkey theorem really proves is that you can get order from intelligently designed parts that are specifically intended to produce such order.
Jogger2 over 3 years ago
When an 18 wheeler loaded with paper stopped at the house, Roger and Andy learned what was going on. They canceled the order. They then asked Jason to calculate how much paper would be used before there was a 20% chance something like a decent book report would be printed, and how much time it would take.
Ray_C over 3 years ago
This brings up the question of how the first useful DNA chain happened to occur, and how the mechanisms for using it came about. The whole theory of “Intelligent Design” is based on the fact that you don’t get information from random fluctuations, but from an intelligence. A fascinating hint at the existence of a Creator. Billions of years of randomness ain’t enough.
ChessPirate over 3 years ago
The first computer program I wrote for my very first home computer, generated a random character in a random color in a random spot on the TV screen (computer used the TV as the monitor; 17 characters across, 8 lines down). After awhile, it was just a moving mass of colors, kind of mesmerizing. I then moved on to program working versions of the games “Battleship” and “Robotwar”…
yangeldf over 3 years ago
why the hell is he actually printing out every attempt!? That is such a MASSIVE waste of paper and ink…
Sailor46 USN 65-95 over 3 years ago
We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually produce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.
jessewylie over 3 years ago
Golly
gammaguy over 3 years ago
Even if the computer does generate a reasonable “Hamlet” book report in the midst of all the randomness, it would be of no use, since I doubt that Peter would be able to recognize it for what it was.
The PapaEaster almost 2 years ago
That’s a lot of ink and paper used!