Is there any truth to the monkey theory that writes forever?

[cokebarc]

Hello everyone, I saw a very interesting video and I am confused. Can a monkey really write so accurately if given infinite time? Doesn't this prove the superiority of randomness over creativity?
 

 

[exchemist]

14 minutes ago, cokebarc said:

Hello everyone, I saw a very interesting video and I am confused. Can a monkey really write so accurately if given infinite time? Doesn't this prove the superiority of randomness over creativity?
 

 

What a silly question. Do you have infinite time at your disposal? 

[cokebarc]

9 minutes ago, exchemist said:

What a silly question. Do you have infinite time at your disposal? 

not for now. What if there was?

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, cokebarc said:

not for now. What if there was?

What if the sky were made of concrete?

[cokebarc]

6 minutes ago, exchemist said:

What if the sky were made of concrete?

I can prove that the sky is not made of concrete. Can you prove we won't be able to control time in 500 years?

[exchemist]

2 minutes ago, cokebarc said:

I can prove that the sky is not made of concrete. Can you prove we won't be able to control time in 500 years?

😴ZZzzzzz...........

 

This is too silly for me. I'm out. 

[swansont]

3 hours ago, cokebarc said:

Hello everyone, I saw a very interesting video and I am confused. Can a monkey really write so accurately if given infinite time? Doesn't this prove the superiority of randomness over creativity?

If you shoot a million shots and get one bullseye, that’s not “accurate”

[TheVat]

The monkey/typewriter thing (have usually heard it as a roomful of monkeys, with them eventually typing Hamlet) is just a way to grasp some concepts about infinity and probability.  I remember a prof invoking it in Evo biology, in re random molecular interactions leading to a proto-cell.  Very low probability events become common, given sufficient time.

[Endy0816]

Just random.

Given infinite time a program that randomly prints out one letter at a time will do the same.

Note that it'll be a Library of Babel situation. There's likely, though not guaranteed, to be lot of nonsense and partial texts produced as well.

 

[swansont]

 

[Mordred]

I think one of the trickier examples of statistics given enough time is the Boltzmann Brain conjecture where given enough time the Universe itself could develop a brain.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain

It's not a conjecture I particularly follow but it's one example of how statistical systems given enough time can be applied to some highly speculative outcomes.

[StringJunky]

34 minutes ago, Mordred said:

I think one of the trickier examples of statistics given enough time is the Boltzmann Brain conjecture where given enough time the Universe itself could develop a brain.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain

It's not a conjecture I particularly follow but it's one example of how statistical systems given enough time can be applied to some highly speculative outcomes.

Has it not already produced brains from stochastic and deterministic processes without external agency? 

Edited September 10 by StringJunky

[Mordred]

1 hour ago, StringJunky said:

Has it not already produced brains from stochastic and deterministic processes without external agency? 

Well as stated it's not a conjecture I've chosen to follow closely so wouldn't really know if Boltzmann brains exist or not. Given the probability errors on that link. I hadn't read anything stating such conclusively.

 Truth be told I never found any practicality behind studying the conjecture. So never wasted much time on it. Usually when I do it's to assist some poster understand the physics involved as numerous papers have the FLRW metric as well as SM processes such as EW symmetry breaking and inflation.

Edited September 10 by Mordred

[TheVat]

15 hours ago, Endy0816 said:

Note that it'll be a Library of Babel situation. There's likely, though not guaranteed, to be lot of nonsense and partial texts produced as well.

Great story by Borges.  I liked the religious cult that emerges in the Library which believes that somewhere must be a book which perfectly indexes all the other books.  

Edited September 10 by TheVat

[Thorham]

On 9/9/2024 at 11:33 AM, cokebarc said:

Can a monkey really write so accurately if given infinite time? Doesn't this prove the superiority of randomness over creativity?

No, because monkeys aren't random.