I heard that if an infinity amount of monkeys..?

Question

were writing on a typewriter, one of them would eventually type the works of shakespear. Or if one monkey typed on a typewriter for an infinity amount of time, he would eventually write the works of shakespear.

Is that theory true?

Please reply if you have heard this theory and your views.
Thank you!

Answer 1

I've heard the theory - and it's technically true, but quite meaningless, really.
It's being touted mostly by skeptics who are trying to deny there is any intrinsic value to anything human - it's really just a rhetorical way to say that the works of Shakespeare is nothing but an arrangement of letters.
Technically, that statement is true. But it denigrates what language is and how humans use it. The reason Shakespeare has meaning is not because it's a particular arrangement of letters, but because that particular arrangement of letters means something to humans.
Imagine you actually entered the room after the monkeys were done typing every arrangement of letters possible. You have more paper than is sufficient to cover the surface of earth for kilometers. Now try to find Shakespeare's works in that mish-mash. Given an infinity of time, you will find it - but only because you understand its meaning.
So the monkeys allegory fails to dismiss meaning.

Answer 2

There seems to be an infinity of humans claiming they're writers, and yet, so far, only Shakespeare has witten the complete works of Shakespeare! If another human ever produces a body of fiction that equals it for ground-breaking genius and longevity then perhaps I'll consider taking the hypothetical literary capabilities of monkeys seriously!

Answer 3

If you had an infinite amount of monkeys, then an endless amount of monkeys would write em in the first time... because there is no limit to infinity, so the chance-factor is out the window. So like when you say "one in 50,000 (or whatever) monkeys will write a sentence on their first try," an infinite number of monkeys would write a sentence on the first turn.

I've heard a similar version. It went something like: the chances for a monkey to type "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1) the first time would be the chances of evolution to happen/work.

Answer 4

I agree, it is techinically true but impossible to do. Infinity is quite a large number of monkeys or time.

The way I heard it was if a sufficiently large number of monkeys beat on type writers for a sufficiently long enough time one of them would write shakespears plays. I've heard the expression used when someone wanted more time to accomplish a task.

Answer 5

I have. And I don't think it is true, really... it's a snotty way of saying there's nothing special about the human intellect. Probably a liberal said it.