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Typing monkey would be unable to produce 'Hamlet' within the lifetime of the universe, study finds(phys.org)

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VantaBrandon@lemmy.world
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The question that everyone has been dying to know has been answered. Finally! What will scientists study next?

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adarza@lemmy.ca
16 points

from the wiki article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

If there were as many monkeys as there are atoms in the observable universe typing extremely fast for trillions of times the life of the universe, the probability of the monkeys replicating even a single page of Shakespeare is unfathomably small.

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Nougat@fedia.io
36 points

… the probability of the monkeys replicating even a single page of Shakespeare is unfathomably small.

But not zero.

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CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world
3 points

Basically nothing is ever truly zero

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Cryophilia@lemmy.world
1 point

The probability of lots of things is zero. The probability of a monkey typing a Chinese character on an English keyboard is zero.

Similar idea: there are an infinite amount of numbers between zero and one, but none of those numbers is two.

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Nightwatch Admin@feddit.nl
23 points

Someone wiser than me already said that it already has happened: 1 ape did, in fact, write the complete works of Shakespeare.

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Nougat@fedia.io
1 point

I am.

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Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
3 points

so you’re saying there’s a chance…

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ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
1 point

So you’re saying there’s a chance.

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scarabic@lemmy.world
4 points

So you’re telling me… there’s a chance!

Sorry, I’m sort of lampooning comments like the one above and below you where people just can’t resist focusing on the possibility, no matter how ridiculously remote it seems. For myself, there’s a point of “functionally zero odds” that I’m willing to accept and move on with my life.

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Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
10 points

Weird how neither of those numbers are infinities. Almost like the numbers used are unfathomably small in comparison.

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