November 19, 2024
You have doubtless heard of the “infinite monkey theorem.” It posits that a monkey hitting keys at random on a keyboard for an infinite amount of time will, eventually, have typed any given text, including the complete works of Shakespeare.
As it turns out, the theorem has a problem. A big problem.
In a new peer-reviewed study led by two Australian mathematicians, researchers calculated that if all 200,000 of the world’s chimpanzees were chained to typewriters, could type one key per second, and were made immortal, they would fail to produce the Complete Works of Shakespeare or even any “non-trivial written work” before the expected heat death of the universe in 1.7 x 10¹⁰⁶ years. In fact, there would be only a 5% chance that a single chimp would successfully type the word “bananas” in its own lifetime. And the probability of one chimp constructing a random sentence – such as “I chimp, therefore I am” – comes in at one in one quadrillion.
The study’s conclusion? “It is not plausible that, even with improved typing speeds or an increase in chimpanzee populations, monkey labour will ever be a viable tool for developing non-trivial written works.”