civilized ku # 2672 ~ monkey do, monkey see, monkey do
Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 01:42PM 
vase and shadow ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenThe Monkey Typewriter Theory Hypothesis Theorem* says that if a certain number (large, often considered infinite, depending on who's saying it and what number they can think of randomly) number of monkeys were given typewriters and a really long time, they could write the works of some random famous writer such as Shakespeare, Dickens, et al. However, as a group of mathematicians have deduced, the time frame required for a bunch of monkeys randomly banging away on an equal bunch of keyboards to produce the works of a random famous writer is longer than the anticipated existence of the universe. Hence the theorem's stated outcome has a probability of essentially ZERO.
*What was once called the Monkey Typewriter Theory is now considered to be a theorem because; 1) it is not a theory because it is not an explanation for a body of evidence with predictive power, 2) it is not a hypothesis because it is only an almost untestable statement, and 3) it is a theorem because it is a deduction from other simpler logical statements/truths.
FYI, 2 random thoughts, as found on the internet, for your consideration, re: the Monkey Typewriter Theorem:
from a monkey: Gugjvhfu'ohƒkih;ohout98u[9u8yplfhw;khfuhpip2out[olkuefhl uehf2u3[r49uo[rhkuahedkqwhioj23oej[o34roi354ithoi ho3ihhelpimtrappedinathoughtexperiment0o'jihug ygouf7idd65d65y5diy5dyidipojklugy6r86754354qwadxhblk\p ==-8096rtrdghokp0i09yu
from a random comment as modified by me:
Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and twitter+facebook is nothing like Shakespeare.
What in the name of all that's picture making does the MTT have to do with the price of picture making stuff, you might wonder?
Well, as I am prepping pictures for a new book, re: my kitchen sink pictures, I was drawn to the idea of random chance. As in, I don't arrange any of the referential material found in my kitchen sink, I just picture it as I find/see it. That written, of the tens of thousands of times - I've lived with this particular kitchen sink for 4,927 days and counting - I have stood in front of the sink, my eye and sensibilities have been pricked to the point of fetching a camera and making a picture on less than 30 occasions.
Therefore, I have come up with my very own Monkey Picture Making Theory, To wit, it requires only a couple of monkeys randomly putting things in a kitchen sink over a period of ten years or so to create a few arrangements which, in turn, gives rise to a few pictures akin to those made by a famous picture maker (Irving Penn, Edward Weston, Jan Groover, et al).
Of course, in my MPMT - which, quite obviously, has been tested and proven correct - the monkeys are imaginary. Although, the wife and I could conceivably be considered to be the monkeys inasmuch as we're the ones putting the stuff in the sink. And, we both like bananas.
Anyone out there have any other proof, vis a vis your own picture making experience, which supports my Monkey Picture Making Theory?
Reader Comments (1)
Very confusing question.... but your flower picture sure is pretty - Gingi