A long-standing mathematical concept, known as the "infinite monkey theorem," suggests that given infinite time, a monkey randomly pressing keys could produce any text, including the complete works of William Shakespeare. However, Australian mathematicians Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta argue against this idea in a new peer-reviewed study, concluding that such an event is virtually impossible.
The researchers determined that the time required for a single monkey to replicate Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, and poems would exceed the lifespan of the universe itself. Their calculations considered both individual monkeys and the global population of chimpanzees, estimated to be around 200,000. Even if every chimp was capable of typing one key per second from now until the universe ends, they would not come close to replicating Shakespeare’s literary contributions.
The study highlights the exceedingly low probabilities associated with this task. For example, there is only a 5% probability that a single chimp might type the word “bananas” during its lifetime. The odds against a chimp constructing a coherent sentence like “I chimp, therefore I am,” stand at a staggering one in 10 million billion billion.
"This finding places the theorem among other probability puzzles and paradoxes... where using the idea of infinite resources gives results that don't match up with what we get when we consider the constraints of our universe," commented Associate Professor Woodcock. The study utilizes the heat death theory— a widely accepted hypothesis suggesting that the universe will eventually cool and expand into a state of decay—as the basis for its calculations.
Ultimately, Woodcock and Falletta's study reveals the misleading nature of the infinite monkey theorem, shedding light on the limitations of using infinite resources in probabilistic scenarios, suggesting that monkey labor is far from a viable method for creating significant written works.
