6th September 2006, 2:14 PM
It's well known that an infinity of monkeys at an infinity of typuwritu would, due to the very nature of that little infinity concept, produce every single thing that is possible to be written ever, including shakespear's works for example. The trouble would be that it would take you forever to find it all (literally) after it's all done (which would be never). Also, infinity is something that doesn't really have any bearing on the real and finite world.
Make that finite, suddenly probability matters again. Take the time from the big bang to present and have as many monkeys as there are atoms in the universe, and the chances of Shakespear are almost zero.
But, what if the typewriters dispense bananas whenever a valid english word is entered?
Make that finite, suddenly probability matters again. Take the time from the big bang to present and have as many monkeys as there are atoms in the universe, and the chances of Shakespear are almost zero.
But, what if the typewriters dispense bananas whenever a valid english word is entered?
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)