Stupid thought du jour

[AmpedSilence]

Originally posted by: RapidSnail

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
...if you have an infinite number of monkeys, each with a typewriter, one of them will eventually bang out War and Peace by hitting random keys, given enough time...

Isn't that statistically impossible?

probably on the order of 26^<number of characters in 'War and Peace'> (not including things like punctuation, making much more complex, but thats the basics). Very large number, so given a large enough set, it would be possible. But not Very likely.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed


pi isn't an event. To be fair, I'll restate my hypothesis:

Given enough time, every event will occur an infinite number of times in exactly the same way, and therefore is cyclical.

Current theories say that the Universe will expand at an ever-increasing rate. Eventually, even protons will decay into their constituent quarks and energies, which will also dissipate. I don't think you'll find any monkeys on any typewriters then.

Of course, the half-life of a proton is far longer than the current age of the Universe, so this will be a long time into the future. (Proton half-life is supposed to be somewhere around 10^35 years.)

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence

Originally posted by: RapidSnail

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
...if you have an infinite number of monkeys, each with a typewriter, one of them will eventually bang out War and Peace by hitting random keys, given enough time...

Isn't that statistically impossible?

probably on the order of 26^<number of characters in 'War and Peace'> (not including things like punctuation, making much more complex, but thats the basics). Very large number, so given a large enough set, it would be possible. But not Very likely.

Given an infinitely large set of monkeys, I'd say the chances of it happening are 100%. Infinity is a pretty darn large number of monkeys. Of course, you might also end up with an infinite number of Bibles, War and Pieces, Mine Kampfs, New York City telephone directories, and an infinite number of pornographic novels. That, and a whole lot of gibberish.
I'd certainly hope they also have infinite lifespans, with no nutritional or excretory requirements. The logistics of feeding and cleaning up the waste of that many monkeys is just not a pleasant thought, nor is dealing with trillions upon trillions of dead monkeys. And hell, just providing the paper to them all would be a nightmare.

 

[AmpedSilence]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

probably on the order of 26^<number of characters in 'War and Peace'> (not including things like punctuation, making much more complex, but thats the basics). Very large number, so given a large enough set, it would be possible. But not Very likely.

Given an infinitely large set of monkeys, I'd say the chances of it happening are 100%. Infinity is a pretty darn large number of monkeys. Of course, you might also end up with an infinite number of Bibles, War and Pieces, Mine Kampfs, New York City telephone directories, and an infinite number of pornographic novels. That, and a whole lot of gibberish.
I'd certainly hope they also have infinite lifespans, with no nutritional or excretory requirements. The logistics of feeding and cleaning up the waste of that many monkeys is just not a pleasant thought, nor is dealing with trillions upon trillions of dead monkeys. And hell, just providing the paper to them all would be a nightmare.[/quote]

you put way too much thought into that. have a :beer:

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed

Originally posted by: daveshel
Just because something happens again doesn't mean it's a cycle.

True, but when an event happens an infinite number of times in exactly the same way, it is cyclical. Given enough time, those monkeys are going to bang out War and Peace an infinite number of times, and the period between instances will become more and more regular as one reaches infinity.

To be considered cyclical, there has to be a pattern. The events you describe seem more like a random series of events that occasionally recur. I don't see any basis for it becoming more regular.

 

[Dirigible]

Originally posted by: Kyteland

Are zebras black with white stripes, or white with black stripes?

Neither. They're pink with black and white stripes.

The egg came first.

Not everything is cyclical.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Given enough time, those monkeys are going to bang out War and Peace an infinite number of times, and the period between instances will become more and more regular as one reaches infinity.

What are you talking about? You fail@teh maths.

 

[Fritzo]

My thought of the day:

Why are old people so slow? You'd figure since they don't have much time left, they'd be in a hurry to do everything.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Given enough time, those monkeys are going to bang out War and Peace an infinite number of times, and the period between instances will become more and more regular as one reaches infinity.

What are you talking about? You fail@teh maths.

As the time scale becomes more and more massive, the significance of the time interval between each occurrence becomes less and less, eventually approaching zero.