5 ms·
in a pure infinite monkey scenario, works of Shakespeare would be generated at some point
by clueless 2y ago
in a pure infinite monkey scenario, works of Shakespeare would be generated at some point
- ryanmcbride 2y agoYou can't guarantee that monkeys are typing perfectly randomly. We may never see better than "it was the best of times it was the blurst of times"
- scarmig 2y agoIt doesn't need to be perfectly random; you just need every sequence to have a nonzero probability of being generated. "to be or not to be" may be more likely for a monkey on a keyboard to generate than a random string, actually. The keys to generate it are highly repetitive and relatively close together. That's true for any NL string: the lower entropy of NL strings are reflected in the keyboard layout. If the monkeys switch to Dvorak, they could probably generate Shakespeare even faster.
- tacoooooooo 2y agoyou misunderstand infinity
- clueless 2y agohow so?
- chowells 2y agoSo if I randomly type letters from the top row of my keyboard forever, I'll eventually type the entire works of Shakespeare? Of course not. There are lots of ways you can bias random that remain random, but prevent every possible output from being generated. That's all GP was saying. You can't just say "infinite time", you need to rule out biases that would prevent the desired result.
- recursive 2y agoYou don't need "perfect randomness". The claim was about "perfect randomness". You just need a non-zero probability for the outcomes in question. And you need independence between subsequent random events.
- deathanatos 2y agoWhat, you egg? [He stabs him.] (from Macbeth) Are you certain the real thing isn't "the blurst of times" already?
- mauvehaus 2y agoYour monkeys are pretty bad at Shakespeare if the best they come up with "it was the best of times it was the blurst of times".
- qingcharles 2y agoTheir typewriters are kinda janky, TBH. https://preview.redd.it/it-was-the-best-of-times-it-was-the-blurst-of-times-v0-uq7ix310nl5a1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=867b3d5845acdf7437b3c4a1ba5b57774de0e922 https://preview.redd.it/it-was-the-best-of-times-it-was-the-...
- mr_toad 2y ago> Your monkeys are pretty bad at Shakespeare Worse, they can’t even tell their Shakespeare from their Dickens (It’s the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities).
- crtified 2y agoIf you have infinite monkeys, then (at least) one of the monkeys is Shakespeare.
- dmurray 2y agoIf you have finite monkeys, let's say they number M, but infinite time, then for small values of M it would be faster to breed the monkeys until one of them evolves into Shakespeare.