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Infinite Monkey Theorem
ShootersHillGuru
Posts: 50,619
Monkeys will never type Shakespeare, study finds https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c748kmvwyv9o
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If the monkeys have a time constraint, then they don't have infinite time. I'm no boffin but I understand infinity6
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What if time is infinite ?jacob_CAFC said:If the monkeys have a time constraint, then they don't have infinite time. I'm no boffin but I understand infinity0 -
Poor old Robin Ince, I think his career is over now. I reckon the Cox fella will still be able to scrape out a living though.2
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Taking a theory that requires unconstrained infinity, and then pointing out it can’t happen in our constrained universe, hardly requires a press release.12
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Indeed but it does dispel this age old idiomSomervilleAddick said:Taking a theory that requires unconstrained infinity, and then pointing out it can’t happen in our constrained universe, hardly requires a press release.0 -
No it doesn't. Because the theorem relies on there being an infinite number of monkeys.ShootersHillGuru said:
Indeed but it does dispel this age old idiomSomervilleAddick said:Taking a theory that requires unconstrained infinity, and then pointing out it can’t happen in our constrained universe, hardly requires a press release.5 -
The adage is about "infinite" amount of time and monkeys. Given that the reason it can't happened is due to the finite life of the universe, it looks like they have done a great job of disproving a theory completely different to the idiom.
The statement is still true.5 -
Which is reliant upon time being infinite which it probably isn’t.Chizz said:
No it doesn't. Because the theorem relies on there being an infinite number of monkeys.ShootersHillGuru said:
Indeed but it does dispel this age old idiomSomervilleAddick said:Taking a theory that requires unconstrained infinity, and then pointing out it can’t happen in our constrained universe, hardly requires a press release.0 -
An infinite number of monkeys would type the works of Shakespeare in a finite length of timeShootersHillGuru said:
Which is reliant upon time being infinite which it probably isn’t.Chizz said:
No it doesn't. Because the theorem relies on there being an infinite number of monkeys.ShootersHillGuru said:
Indeed but it does dispel this age old idiomSomervilleAddick said:Taking a theory that requires unconstrained infinity, and then pointing out it can’t happen in our constrained universe, hardly requires a press release.1 -
In an infinite number of seasons, Charlton would win the league, even if it feels like it will be longer than the life of the universe.8
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Presumably those two Aussie mathematicians were paid for that study. Easy work if you can get it.
"if you ignore the 'infinite' bit of that old saying, it's probably not true. Any questions?
What's that? The whole point of the thing is that it's about the nature of infinity? Ah well, never mind, fancy paying us for a year long study on whether all the world is in fact a stage?"2 -
This is no disrespect to you Shooters, but that might be the stupidest thing I have ever read published by actual "academics"3
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The other day the headline in the Star was that Ghosts are dying out.4
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I don't know about stupidest, but on face value, it looks like a contender for the most pointless. You don't need to know the lifespan of the universe to understand that the notion of uncovering a Simian Shakespeare is, and can only be, entirely hypothetical. We can't even look after the monkeys we have got; of the 488 species of monkey over half, 265, currently appear on the IUCN's red list. The whole idea of corralling a large number, let alone an infinite number, into a typing pool is ridiculous (perhaps that is actually the power of the theorem).Huskaris said:This is no disrespect to you Shooters, but that might be the stupidest thing I have ever read published by actual "academics"
Having said that, I presume that the exercise was a vehicle for honing and developing mathematical skills and that there was learning beyond the stuff that would have grabbed the headline writers' attention.4 -
Why am I not surprised this ‘study’ was in Sydney.Aussies will do anything apart from actual work.3
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Personally, I have a lot more time for this story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teens-come-up-with-trigonometry-proof-for-pythagorean-theorem-60-minutes-transcript/.
The two students involved are seriously impressive.3 -
Monkeys will never type the complete works of Shakespeare but the key word is infinite so it is possible although dead monkeys will constantly need replacing and even then the time requirement will outlast us.0
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ShootersHillGuru said:
Which is reliant upon time being infinite which it probably isn’t.Chizz said:
No it doesn't. Because the theorem relies on there being an infinite number of monkeys.ShootersHillGuru said:
Indeed but it does dispel this age old idiomSomervilleAddick said:Taking a theory that requires unconstrained infinity, and then pointing out it can’t happen in our constrained universe, hardly requires a press release.Our knowledge of the universe is limited and much of that is due to the constraints of our brains.
We share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees, yet chimps are unaware of written languages, the industrial revolution or the atomic age. Imagine what we might achieve if we were just a further 1% evolved. In that scenario, what we consider the height of human evolution today might seem as primitive as chimps using sticks to eat termites.1 -
This is so cruel. We shouldn’t be doing this to monkeys.9
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And yet as a human you cannot image something that never ends..jacob_CAFC said:If the monkeys have a time constraint, then they don't have infinite time. I'm no boffin but I understand infinity
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I thought I understood infinity also until I came across the idea that the infinite set of integers is smaller than the infinite set of real numbers.jacob_CAFC said:If the monkeys have a time constraint, then they don't have infinite time. I'm no boffin but I understand infinity2 -
The fact people cant agree what infinite means, you can see why almost every discussion can turn into a row !1
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On the contrary, the amount of time ive spent waiting for Charlton to look decent at corners has given me a pretty good idea...fenlandaddick said:
And yet as a human you cannot image something that never ends..jacob_CAFC said:If the monkeys have a time constraint, then they don't have infinite time. I'm no boffin but I understand infinity5 -
Seriously impressive is an understatement.NornIrishAddick said:Personally, I have a lot more time for this story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teens-come-up-with-trigonometry-proof-for-pythagorean-theorem-60-minutes-transcript/.
The two students involved are seriously impressive.
Except for, like, their use of, like, like.0 -
They'd never be able to source that many typewriters though.Chizz said:
An infinite number of monkeys would type the works of Shakespeare in a finite length of timeShootersHillGuru said:
Which is reliant upon time being infinite which it probably isn’t.Chizz said:
No it doesn't. Because the theorem relies on there being an infinite number of monkeys.ShootersHillGuru said:
Indeed but it does dispel this age old idiomSomervilleAddick said:Taking a theory that requires unconstrained infinity, and then pointing out it can’t happen in our constrained universe, hardly requires a press release.1 -
NornIrishAddick said:Personally, I have a lot more time for this story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teens-come-up-with-trigonometry-proof-for-pythagorean-theorem-60-minutes-transcript/.
The two students involved are seriously impressive.
Very impressive, although it should be called the Baudhayan Theorem!
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Totally agree. I thought all this cruelty had stopped once they were banned from working in those piano delivery firms.KiwiValley said:This is so cruel. We shouldn’t be doing this to monkeys.3 -
Infinite monkey theorem disproved!
> finite monkeys
> finite time0 -
In a very real way, a primate has already written the works of Shakespeare3
