Article

2003-05-09

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Bulldog 2003-05-09 08:51 am|| || Front Page|| [11129 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Wow, but that story had me laughing! Thanks for getting my day started on the right foot.

Posted by ColoradoConservative 5/9/2003 10:12:04 AM|| 5/9/2003 10:12:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I've got to to think that the invinite monkey theory is still viable. It's just to early to make a case for or against. Couldn't a stronger, more powerful, computer be procured. Lets give this "ground breaking" scientifific excercise a chance.

Posted by Lucky 2003-05-09 10:20:11|| 2003-05-09 10:20:11|| Front Page Top

#3 Whoa! The results are being printed in a limited-edition book? I'd better rush out and buy several copies , and put even more money into their pockets!

Just curious, will the limited edition books be signed by the monkeys as well?

Posted by Dripping sarcasm 2003-05-09 11:01:00|| 2003-05-09 11:01:00|| Front Page Top

#4 Obviously gross speciesism. Expecting other species to conform to human norms and values.

Oddly at one point, the letters

R A C H E L C O R R I E were typed, but apparently they have no meaning.

Posted by Chuck 2003-05-09 09:27:39|| [blog.simmins.org] 2003-05-09 09:27:39|| Front Page Top

#5 Well, they must not be using the right protocol:

rfc2795 - The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS)

Posted by mojo 2003-05-09 09:50:37|| 2003-05-09 09:50:37|| Front Page Top

#6 They were however able to reproduce most of Red Ken's and Galloways' speeches verbatim

Posted by Frank G 2003-05-09 09:56:40|| 2003-05-09 09:56:40|| Front Page Top

#7 Didn't monkeys form Jimmy Carter's foreign policy?
That's what I've heard. I believe he still uses a few as advisors.

Posted by tu3031 2003-05-09 10:00:01|| 2003-05-09 10:00:01|| Front Page Top

#8 *blinks* WTF??? *looks through site*. Damn, thanks, Mojo! I learned something new today!

Hmm. Actually the significance of the appearance of the letter "s" may be illusory: The key may have been stuck.

Hey guys! Perhaps your next pass at the problem could be financed by manufacturers of Harsh Environment and Mil Spec computer laptop manufacturers: Our grunts are now too computer literate to REALLY field test such equipment, and the substitutes work only for bananas, which are only slightly more expensive than peanuts.

Posted by Ptah 2003-05-09 10:00:09|| [www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2003-05-09 10:00:09|| Front Page Top

#9 cx cjhfd asdlaje lae fuf hhluurh Call Me Ishmael adsfithy598u;q5 451j fgja;sd;f8454589704ksjdf dsfu234l adfasudsf8432 dsafsdfas asdf3452345;k dsf

10,000 Monkeys At Typewriters everywhere after 10 years

Thanks Nat Lamp

Posted by Shipman 2003-05-09 10:02:17|| 2003-05-09 10:02:17|| Front Page Top

#10 Wow, but that story had me laughing! Thanks for getting my day started on the right foot.

Posted by ColoradoConservative 2003-05-09 10:12:04|| 2003-05-09 10:12:04|| Front Page Top

#11 Ms Plowman's comment about the infinite monkey theory being flawed is revealing. She is identified as a scientific officer, which, I presume, means that she has some training in science and, perhaps, math and specficially probability theory.

As I recall, the "theory" is that an infinite number of monkeys, given enough time, would recreate Shakespeare. The theory may or may not be flawed. But this "test" of the theory is obviously flawed. To conclude that six monkeys equate to an infinite number of monkeys is quite a leap. The duration of the experiment was not provided, but I'd wager that it was rather limited. In short, it was no test whatsoever.

Do I care whether monkeys can create Shakespeare? No. Was this a test or a publicity stunt? That's a self-answering question. But Ms. Plowman's comment has the air of a good deal of contemporary "expert" explication. It reveals absolutely nothing about the issue at hand, but a good deal about the credibility of the expert.

Posted by Anonymous 2003-05-09 12:33:12|| 2003-05-09 12:33:12|| Front Page Top

#12 My 7 year old suggested that his golden comet chicken Henrietta do a little "hunt and peck" on the keyboard and we will see what we get. Got to wait till she finishes her daily egg laying first.

This monkey business above reminds me of a cartoon in a magazine. Dog sitting at desk, typwriter before him. Man standing over dog, frowning, reading typed page. Caption reads, dog:
"sure it's doggerel, what did you expect?"

Posted by Alaska Paul 2003-05-09 12:43:33|| 2003-05-09 12:43:33|| Front Page Top

#13 Damn, thanks, Mojo! I learned something new today!

What, that programmers do really elaborate April Fools Day jokes?

;)

Posted by mojo 2003-05-09 13:44:20|| 2003-05-09 13:44:20|| Front Page Top

#14 as was pointed out years ago, the infinite monkeys typing Shakespeare as a model of evolution (generally stated by detractors of evolution) is not accurate to begin with. The whole point of evol is that while the genetic changes may be random, which ones survive are not. Therefore a more accurate model would be one where a group of monkeys at random type a document the length of Hamlet. An editor, playing the role of natural selection, would then review the work and keep those letters that matched up to Hamlet. The monkeys would then have another go. Sooner or later they would eventually get Hamlet - and sooner than one might think.

Posted by liberalhawk 2003-05-09 14:12:13|| 2003-05-09 14:12:13|| Front Page Top

#15 "Of course, if they'd used cheese-eating surrender monkeys instead, they might well have ended up with something by MoliÃ¨re."

--James Taranto, "Best of the Web"

Posted by Mike 2003-05-09 14:51:56|| 2003-05-09 14:51:56|| Front Page Top

04:03 Watcher
03:44 Watcher
03:32 Watcher
02:21 R. McLeod
02:07 R. McLeod
01:44 Mike Kozlowski
01:25 Anonymous
00:29 mojo
23:54 Anonymous
23:30 True German Ally
21:26 Becky
20:27 Matt
20:22 Frank G
19:45 Becky
19:44 Frank G
19:34 someone
19:27 someone
19:11 Fred
18:57 Frank G
18:21 Parabellum
18:05 John Phares
17:57 Sofia
17:56 donner
17:41 Becky