Back in October, Eugene Volokh posted about logical flaws in the old cliche about an infinite number of monkeys eventually producing the works of Shakespeare.
Since the cliche relies on randomness of the monkeys typing, and since chimps don’t type randomly (even if we aren’t able to discern the patterns), they would never accomplish a play — let alone a sonnet.
This argument is now backed up by science, apparently.
According to a report from BBC News
- Lecturers and students from the University of Plymouth wanted to test the claim that an infinite number of monkeys given typewriters would create the works of The Bard.
A single computer was placed in a monkey enclosure at Paignton Zoo to monitor the literary output of six primates.
But after a month, the Sulawesi crested macaques had only succeeded in partially destroying the machine, using it as a lavatory, and mostly typing the letter “s”.
