The old line goes that an infinite number of monkeys typing on typewriters would be able to type the complete works of Shakespeare if given enough time.
Is it true? That's almost too big of a question. Let's try something smaller. Could a single monkey type just one Shakespeare play, such as Hamlet? Australian mathematicians Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta say no.
The scholars ran calculations and concluded that the heat death of the universe would occur before the monkey could, by randomly striking keys, complete Hamlet. Even a normal mortal chimpanzee has only a 5% chance of writing "bananas" during its natural lifespan.
Fortunately, we have ChatGPT available instead of monkeys, finite or infinite.
-via Pulp Librarian | Photo: Jim Griffin
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