Infinite monkey theorem in popular culture

Given enough time, a hypothetical chimpanzee typing at random would, as part of its output, almost surely produce one of Shakespeare's plays (or any other text).

The infinite monkey theorem and its associated imagery is considered a popular and proverbial illustration of the mathematics of probability, widely known to the general public because of its transmission through popular culture rather than because of its transmission via the classroom.[1]

However, this popularity as either presented to or taken in the public's mind often oversimplifies or confuses important aspects of the different scales of the concepts involved: infinity, probability, and time—all of these are in measures beyond average human experience and practical comprehension or comparison.

Popularity

The history of the imagery of 'typing monkeys' dates back at least as far as Émile Borel's use of the metaphor in his essay in 1913, and this imagery has recurred many times since in a variety of media.

Today, popular interest in the typing monkeys is sustained by numerous appearances in literature, television and radio, music, and the Internet, as well as graphic novels and stand-up comedy routines. Several collections of cultural references to the theorem have been published.

The following thematic timelines are based on these existing collections. The timelines are not comprehensive – instead, they document notable examples of references to the theorem appearing in various media.[8] The initial timeline starts with some of the early history following Borel, and the later timelines record examples of the history, from the stories by Maloney and Borges in the 1940s, up to the present day.

Early history

Literature

Motion pictures

Radio and television

Video games

Comics and graphic novels

Software and internet culture

Stand-up comedy

Music

See also

References and notes

  1. Examples of the theorem being referred to as proverbial include: Why Creativity Is Not like the Proverbial Typing Monkey Jonathan W. Schooler, Sonya Dougal, Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1999); and The Case of the Midwife Toad (Arthur Koestler, New York, 1972, page 30): "Neo-Darwinism does indeed carry the nineteenth-century brand of materialism to its extreme limits—to the proverbial monkey at the typewriter, hitting by pure chance on the proper keys to produce a Shakespeare sonnet." The latter is sourced from Parable of the Monkeys, a collection of historical references to the theorem in various formats.
  2. The Parable of the Monkeys, as of 2007, is hosted at the website of the experimental music/dance/performance art group Infinite Monkeys.
  3. Monkeys, Typewriters and Networks, Ute Hoffmann & Jeanette Hofmann, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (WZB), 2001.
  4. "Hello? This is Bob", Ken Ringle, Washington Post, 28 October 2002, page C01.
  5. Notes Towards the Complete Works of Shakespeare – some press clippings.
  6. The Best Thought Experiments: Schrödinger's Cat, Borel's Monkeys, Greta Lorge, Wired Magazine: Issue 15.06, May 2007.
  7. Monkeying Around with Text, Terry Butler, University of Alberta, Computing in the Humanities Working Papers, 2007.
  8. The examples included invariably refer directly to a variation on the theme of a large number of typing monkeys producing a work of literature, usually, but not always, a work by Shakespeare. Infinite libraries, and random text generation (instead of monkeys) are also included. Trivial or incomplete references are excluded.
  9. Inflexible Logic, synopsis at the Mathematical Fiction database.
  10. The story was reprinted in the classic four-volume The World of Mathematics by James R. Newman, published in 1956.
  11. Been a long, long time, synopsis by Fred Galvin, at the Mathematical Fiction database.
  12. The Stage: One-acts at Punchline, Mel Gussow, The New York Times, 15 January 1987.
  13. It's All in the Laughing, All in the Timing will have you in stitches, review by Melissa Bearns for Eugene Weekly, 4 June 2006.
  14. Last Exit To Springfield script, Simpson Crazy website.
  15. Woo-hoo! A look at the 10 best 'Simpsons' episodes ever, Press & Sun-Bulletin, 27 July 2007. "The genius of this joke is a child can laugh at it, but those who understand the allusion to Charles Dickens and the infinite monkey theorem can laugh on another level."
  16. "Molson Monkeys", Advertising Age, June 1998
  17. A Troo Storee, TV.com episode guide: "Weasel tries to test the "monkeys typing Shakespeare" theorem".
  18. Family Guy official website – script of the "Monkeys Writing Shakespeare" scene. Archived June 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. XFM archives "Season 1 Vol. 6", "Do you know what he said to me? I explained it to him, I said 'You've got an infinite number of monkeys, an infinite number of typewriters, they will type the complete works of Shakespeare.' He said, 'Have they read Shakespeare?'"
  20. The Robot Chicken Wiki – Screenshot of Robot Chicken Stoopid Monkey production logo that refers to the Infinite Monkey Theorem
  21. Episode transcript, at tvmegasite.net
  22. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p29l8
  23. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1989-05-15/
  24. Grant Morrison's Animal Man #8-26, Jonathan Woodward, "Issue #25, July '90: "Monkey Puzzles" […] The text in the typewriter is Morrison's script for this issue. The monkey, of course, is the famous one who, given an infinite amount of time, will eventually write out the complete Shakespeare, completely at random."
  25. Animal Man, Book 3 – Deus Ex Machina (Paperback), Amazon.com scan of the book cover.
  26. "Tom the Dancing Bug July 2008
  27. "Google Chrome". Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  28. S. Christey (1 April 2000). "RFC 2795: The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS)". Retrieved 2006-06-13.
  29. "The articulate monkeys". Computer Music. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  30. "Infinite Monkey Project wants your texts". Pocket-lint. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  31. "The Infinite Monkey Project". Crossfire. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  32. "10th Page of Google Chrome comic book.".
  33. "Hello? This is Bob", Ken Ringle, Washington Post, 28 October 2002, page C01.
  34. Flashback: Computer poetry from 1985, Al Fasoldt, The Syracuse Newspapers, 1985.
  35. The date of 1960 is given in Monkeying Around with Text, Terry Butler, University of Alberta, Computing in the Humanities Working Papers, January 2007.
  36. Mekons fansite – picture and commentary on the album and cover: "This unusual title was drawn from the axiom that, if you give a monkey a typewriter and an infinite amount of time, it would eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare, a wry comment on the group's own musical ability. The rest of the Shakespeare quote appears on the Mekons Story". The last sentence refers to the later collection The Mekons Story, which included the song 'It Falleth Like Gentle Rain from Heaven'.

External links

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