An Infinite Number of Monkeys

[cantdog]

I do like the things we do with monkeys.

Three monkeys, hear no evil, etc. are one of my favorites. For tolerance.

There's a site comparing Bush to various images of chimps. With pictures.

I liked the Gary Larson toon of Darwin on the Beagle with the sailors all swinging and hopping in the rigging. Captain says, "So what gave you the first clue, Mr. Darwin?"

 

[shereads]

No one has mentioned it's "The Year of the Monkey". Duh.

Nobody has mentioned that it's 2004, either. Duh!

p.s. really idle people are still arguing about "who" wrote Shakespeare (vs. what).

Shakespeare was Jack the Ripper, right?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Geroge Kantor was the mathematician who first subjected the idea of infinity to a mathematically rigorous approach. One of Kantor's findings was the paradox that some infinities are bigger than others.

The set of all numbers is infinite, but so is the number of fractions between any two numbers. Therefore, the number of all fractional numbers is a bigger infinity than the set of all whole numbers, which is also infinite.

By the way, "an infinite number" is a contradiction in terms.

---dr.M.

 

[shereads]

Geroge Kantor was the mathematician who first subjected the idea of infinity to a mathematically rigorous approach. One of Kantor's findings was the paradox that some infinities are bigger than others.

The set of all numbers is infinite, but so is the number of fractions between any two numbers. Therefore, the number of all fractional numbers is a bigger infinity than the set of all whole numbers, which is also infinite.

By the way, "an infinite number" is a contradiction in terms.

---dr.M.

Science talk makes me feel all squirmy. But then it makes my head hurt.

 

[Guest]

Isn't infinity just a theory? Has anyone proved it?

Perdita

 

[gauchecritic]

Isn't infinity just a theory? Has anyone proved it?

Perdita

I think Disney proved it with the phrase "Infinity and beyond"

As far as I know it's simply a useable mathematical concept, like the square root of -1.

Without any mathematical re-course I'd say that physical infinity is a matter of relativity. The circumference of a circle is to all intents and purposes an infinity, it depends on where you stand to look at it.

Gauche

 

[Edward Teach]

Infinite infinite

If you have infinite monkeys typing then some are going to recreate the bard's works on the first try.

In theory, somewhat in keeping with what dr. M. posted, if you had infinite monkeys typing, then you would have infinite copies of Shakespeare's works created on the first try.

Ed

Ps. Infinite infinite is a contradiction only if you assume there is a final accounting. However, there can be no final accounting of infinity since it never ends. Therefore, you can have an unlimited or never ending inside an unlimited or never ending.

Pps. I understood that when I started. Now I'm confused.

 

[Liar]

Isn't infinity just a theory? Has anyone proved it?

Perdita

Been there. It's not at all the hooplah it is rumored to be.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Re: Infinite infinite

If you have infinite monkeys typing then some are going to recreate the bard's works on the first try.

Not only that, but an infinite number of them will come up with Shakespeare's works. Remember: there are infinite infinities in any infinity.

Yet only one of them will win the Literotica National Nude Day Story contest. And he'll probably just barely get the required number of votes.

And speaking of monkeys, as a kid I noticed that whenever a TV show or movie was going flat and stale, they often threw a chimp into the mix. I loved that. No typewriters though.

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Infinite infinite

And speaking of monkeys, as a kid I noticed that whenever a TV show or movie was going flat and stale, they often threw a chimp into the mix. I loved that. No typewriters though.

You're so with it, Mab. On one of the 'Friends' threads I posted a critic's complaint of the use of a monkey for just that reason. Clint Eastwood did it too. I think Cary Grant was the only one to pull it off though.

Perdita

 

[shereads]

Been there. It's not at all the hooplah it is rumored to be.

I heard the same thing about Las Vegas.

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Re: Infinite infinite

You're so with it, Mab. On one of the 'Friends' threads I posted a critic's complaint of the use of a monkey for just that reason. Clint Eastwood did it too. I think Cary Grant was the only one to pull it off though.

Perdita [/B]

So instead of "jumping the shark," we might say they "introduced the monkey."

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Infinite infinite

...Yet only one of them will win the Literotica National Nude Day Story contest. And he'll probably just barely get the required number of votes.

Imagine the tantrums!



Here's the worrisome thing about all of this, to the layperson (me):

Stephen Hawking has said, regarding infinity, that anything that can happen, will happen; therefore, anything that can happen, has already happened, and anything that can happen is happening right now.

If he's right - and I have to give Hawking the benefit of the doubt here - then somewhere, right now, an infinite number of monkeys are just now finishing another sonnet, and they don't even know it.

Moreover, highly evolved beings are saying of homo sapiens, "An infinite number of homo sapiens, given an infinite number of personal computers and an infinite amount of time, will eventually type enough dirty stories to fill a powerful web server; eventually, the conversation will turn from pornography to the 'infinite monkeys' theory."

The really scary thing is, there are skeptics who think that's unlikely!

The even scarier thing is, an infinite number of monkeys won't just type the works of Shakespeare - they'll type the entire contents of Literotica including the Authors Hangout and this thread.

Are they typing it now?

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Re: Infinite infinite

Stephen Hawking has said, regarding infinity, that anything that can happen, will happen; therefore, anything that can happen, has already happened, and anything that can happen is happening right now.[/i]

I think Derrida said the same thing, proved it too.

P.

 

[Liar]

Re: Re: Re: Infinite infinite

Stephen Hawking has said, regarding infinity, that anything that can happen, will happen; therefore, anything that can happen, has already happened, and anything that can happen is happening right now.

And since everything that happens is happening all over again all the time, the infinity is starting to get pretty fucking bored.