cokebarc Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cokebarc Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 9 minutes ago, exchemist said: What a silly question. Do you have infinite time at your disposal? not for now. What if there was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 1 hour ago, cokebarc said: not for now. What if there was? What if the sky were made of concrete? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cokebarc Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 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” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVat Posted September 9 Share Posted September 9 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endy0816 Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheVat Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorham Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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