this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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I think the point is less about any kind of route to Hamlet, and more about the absurdity of infinite tries in a finite space(time). There are a finite (but extremely large) number of configurations of English characters in a work the length of Hamlet. If you have truly an infinite number of attempts (monkeys, time, or both are actually infinite) and the trials are all truly random (every character is guaranteed to have the same chance as every other) then you will necessarily arrive at that configuration eventually.
As far as your process, of procedurally generating each letter one by one until you have the completed works, we actually have a monkey who more or less did that already. His name is William.
????????
Ol Bill Shakespeare. He wrote Hamlet, one correct letter at a time.
Well. technically he was an ape rather than a monkey.
Technically true, I think it still fits for the layman.
Humans are apes, apes are monkeys, paraphyletic groups are bullshit.
isnt that a misconception? apes just share a common ancestor with us
To be entirely fair, apes aren't monkeys. I don't think that particular distinction is really all that relevant to the discussion, but technically...
From wikipedia:
Oh neat. This is all taxonomy that is well beyond me. My defense of calling humans monkeys is that everyone does it, and that's how language works. Glad to know I'm correct too, technically lol
Username checks out.
I know. It's just that creationists misuse that metaphor so often that I couldn't help but share my brainfart here.