Science Memes

11111 readers

2169 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

1154

Infintiy Infintiy Infintiy Infintiy Infintiy Infintiy Infintiy Infintiy (mander.xyz)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

140 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Just thinking at a high level, an infinite number of monkies should hypothetically almost instantly produce Shakespeare (or at least as quickly as they can type)

Conversely, 1 monkey would eventually produce it given infinity time.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

1 monkey would likely die before producing Shakespeare

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

oh absolutely, this is purely a thought experiment of course.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

not if it’s an infinite monkey

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Well, an infinite amount would.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

So as weird as it sounds not all infinities are equal. For example there is an infinite set of odd numbers. That set will never include the number 2 though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Two is the loneliest number?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

OK but what if we had one monkey typing away for every real number between zero and one?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

One monkey may never produce it even given infinite time. It could just produce an infinite string of the letter a and never change it's mind. That's less likely that it writing hamlet, or even many hamlets... But nonetheless, it could. In fact all of the infinite monkeys could do that. If you repeated the experiment and infinite number of times, it's likely that one of them will simple produce an infinite number of infinite strings of only the letter A. Or, idk, ASCII art.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is the same type of criticism the paper made. The real intent behind the saying is given random output (where all outputs have nonzero probability) eventually you will create anything/everything.

Its a thought experiment around infinity, probability, and art.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I haven't read whatever paper this is talking about, but I imagine, it's looking at the saying in a more literal fashion for the sake of argument...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's why a monkey is used in the thought experiment. Monkeys do think at a low level. As it goes insane over centuries of imprisonment in front of its jailer, it's likely going to try complex solutions to get out. Think of the hell infinity would really be for this monkey.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, and given infinite monkeys no doubt they will eventually evolve into something that allows them to escape!