RE: [Leica] Monkey Business??

["Phong" <phong@doan-ltd.com>]

Every novel, play, digital image (hence digitized of paintings, etc.)
can be represented as a (very big) number (extremely long string of 1's
and 0's).   Said monkey is a random number generator; assuming a uniform
distribution of the numbers, eventually _any_ number will come up, given
enough time.    A very bad novel has just a good a chance to come up 
as a very good one, each being vastly (and I mean hugely) outnumbered 
by junk (unrecognized as a novel).

On a practical level, though I haven't done the calculations*, I wouldn't
be surprised if, assuming the monkey types a character a second, the mean
time (50% that it has already happened) to generate the works of Mr. 
Shakespeare is more than all seconds from the beginning of time 
(whenever that was), to the present one.

Put in another way: if such monkey had existed and had succeeded in
typing Shakespeare's works, we would have one hell of a time to find it
among all the trash that's generated in the process.

Waste management is the name of the game.

- - Phong




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Edward
> Caliguri
> Sent: Monday, December 02, 2002 5:46 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: [Leica] Monkey Business??
> 
> 
>  Steve, BD, folks -
>     Just to chime in -- the Zen thing and al can get one thinking -- Is good
> writing de-valued because of the "Monkey - Shakespeare" theory? You know, a
> monkey in a room with a typewriter (remember those :-) ?) will eventually
> crank out the complete works of said Author if given enough time? Is it
> easier to create a truly "Great" (whatever that is!) photograph, than a
> truly "Great" drawing/painting, which would be infinitely easier than
> writing a truly "Great" novel or play? Someone needs to do a Philosophy
> dissertation!
>     EC

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