Infinite monkeys and typewriters (thought experiments)

[Ray Travez]

I've never understood this one. Is the idea that the infinite monkeys will eventually type out the complete works of Shakespeare at random, presumably with myriad other attempts where Hamlet is called Pimlet or Romeo drives around in a Vauxhall Astra? Or is it that the monkeys will gradually evolve into societies, invent writing implements, ink and language, and write the complete works of Shakespeare with full comprehension?

[Jerzy Bondov]

It's the first one. Next question.

[Cuellar]

The first one

[Ray Travez]

alright cheers nice one

[mrpupkin]

Got to be option one for me

[Danger Man]

The former.

And they'll write the complete works of Shakespeare an infinite number of times because that's how infinity works.


(I doubt I'll have to wait an infinite amount of time before somebody says I'm wrong)

[Danger Man]

This could be the thread where it really kicks off....

[Paul Calf]

Also:

There are as many odd numbers as there are even and odd numbers put together.

[Buelligan]

Deffo the first (though it took me an infinite number of attempts several goes to write this).  Hth.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Also:

There are as many odd numbers as there are even and odd numbers put together.

What the fuck is this supposed to mean?

[Konki]

But who cross references it with the actual Complete Works of Shakespeare to prove it's exactly the same and when do the copyright lawyers get involved?

[Paul Calf]

The monkeys are irrelevant. They just represent a random generator.

What the fuck is this supposed to mean?

Exactly what it says.

[Konki]

Also:

There are as many odd numbers as there are even and odd numbers put together.

Nah.

[phantom_power]

Well they are both infinity so...

[Jerzy Bondov]

Exactly what it says.

I thought about it and I worked it out but it still seems like a needlessly provocative thing to say.

[Cuellar]

What if one day numbers just end? A mathematician just suddenly runs out of them halfway through a sum - "Oops!"

Well?

[Jerzy Bondov]

What if one day numbers just end? A mathematician just suddenly runs out of them halfway through a sum - "Oops!"

Well?

This would not happen.

[Paul Calf]

What if one day numbers just end? A mathematician just suddenly runs out of them halfway through a sum - "Oops!"

Well?

We'll just ask the Chinese for some more.

[Mister Six]

Also:

There are as many odd numbers as there are even and odd numbers put together.

Isn't it kind of the opposite? Not that there are as many of one as there are of the other, but that you can have different sizes of infinity?

[Cuellar]

We'll just ask the Chinese for some more.

But the mathematician in this scenario WAS chinese!!!

[mrpupkin]

The idea of a society composed of an infinite number of monkeys is a non-starter, frankly. It's just too many.

[Jerzy Bondov]

If you only had one monkey and one typewriter but he was capable of writing non-stop until he produced the Complete Works of Shakespeare, how long would he take?

[SteK]

Wasn't this experiment tried in a somewhat diluted attempt ie, no infinity?

A lot of monkeys anyway, and the only thing that looked like a word was 'Chumbawumba' - from which the eponymous band got their name.

[Ray Travez]

If you only had one monkey and one typewriter but he was capable of writing non-stop until he produced the Complete Works of Shakespeare, how long would he take?

Does he have a rudimentary understanding of Elizabethan English? (I know nothing about monkeys)

[Neville Chamberlain]

If you only had one monkey and one typewriter but he was capable of writing non-stop until he produced the Complete Works of Shakespeare, how long would he take?

It'd take absolutely bloody ages - three or four years, I reckon!!

[Danger Man]

If you only had one monkey and one typewriter but he was capable of writing non-stop until he produced the Complete Works of Shakespeare, how long would he take?

How many typewriter ribbons?

[dissolute ocelot]

About 10^8453721 years (that's 1 followed by 8453721 zeroes) according to this. But odds are your typing monkey would produce something significantly better than the Complete Works of Shakespeare long before it produced an exact copy.

[Kryton]

Are these monkeys immortal or what?

[Kryton]

Not being funny but if I had an infinite number of immortal monkeys I wouldn't be buggering around ripping off Shakespeare. I'd be robbing banks or something.

[KennyMonster]

My understanding of the Infinite monkies thing is a little different to the above.

"If you have an infinite number of monkies with an infinite number of typewriters they'll probably get mistaken for the joke writers of HIGNFY."