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

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

198 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The thought experiment suggests that over a long enough period of time, every possible combination of letters would be typed out on a keyboard, including Hamlet.

They are not arguing about randomness, as it is inherent to the thought experiment. Randomness is necessary for the experiment to occur.

They are arguing that the universe would be dead before the time criteria is met. It is a bitter and sarcastic conclusion to the thought experiment, and is supposed to be funny.

In conversation, it would be delivered like this:

"You know, over a long enough period of time, monkeys smashing typewriters randomly would eventually produce Hamlet"

"The universe isn't going to last that long."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Nobody asked but I had to share this

It's important to me that everyone understands the joke, even if that understanding robs them of the joy of it. "Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. It kills it".

But it's important because I suffered a lot of being left out as a kid. Others found how good it felt to be exclusive, and shoulder me out of things, or refuse to explain things, or whatever it was that made me the outcast. I could tell from their faces that they love the way it felt when they did that to me. But it hurt me a lot.

I don't want there to be any exclusivity anymore. Nobody deserves that pain. I want everyone to understand the joke, even if that prevents them from ever laughing at it.