tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18714294.post5098774793904424975..comments2024-03-07T19:11:21.715-06:00Comments on Sandra Ulbrich Almazan: Speculative Fiction Author: Ten-Word Tuesday: Monkeys and ShakespeareSandra Ulbrich Almazanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365908651235829765noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18714294.post-69403915383058309312011-09-27T09:54:08.434-05:002011-09-27T09:54:08.434-05:00Briane, I agree there's a huge difference betw...Briane, I agree there's a huge difference between writing the individual words of a play randomly vs. putting them in order. Hopefully that means computer monkeys won't be writing us out of jobs anytime soon.Sandra Ulbrich Almazanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15365908651235829765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18714294.post-70501536801967116062011-09-27T09:37:48.499-05:002011-09-27T09:37:48.499-05:00Okay: I would like a scientist to weigh in on this...Okay: I would like a scientist to weigh in on this. I recently pointed out my own belief that the Million Monkeys Theorem is flawed; "random" doesn't mean "every single thing ever would be produced". "Random" means "we can't predict what will happen in any way."<br /><br />So to say that a million monkeys would eventually write the works of Shakespeare is to misunderstand "random." <br /><br />And I went and read the posts that you linked to, and here's my BIGGER problem with this: If you define "coming up with chunks of text that match" as "producing the works of Shakespeare," you can claim this project works EVERY TIME.<br /><br />The blogger says:<br /><br />oday (2011-09-23) at 2:30 PST the monkeys successfully randomly recreated A Lover’s Complaint and The Tempest (2011-09-26). This is the first time a work of Shakespeare has actually been randomly reproduced. Furthermore, this is the largest work ever randomly reproduced. It is one small step for a monkey, one giant leap for virtual primates everywhere.<br /><br />But as far as I can tell, the "monkeys" didn't recreate it in anything like a complete format: It sounds like you have to search through tons of text to find bits and pieces of Shakespearean works, then piece them together to match up to a script. But you could probably do that in any book of word searches or collection of crosswords puzzles. How big of a chunk do the monkeys have to come up with? A whole page? Or just two words strung together? I wasn't able to tell. <br /><br />If it's just two words, or just a few words, this isn't a test at all. Here's the entire text of Romeo & Juliet:<br /><br />http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html.<br /><br />This comment begins "I would like." In doing so, I recreated a portion of that play:<br /><br />SAMPSON<br /><br /> I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw.<br /><br />MONTAGUE<br />...<br /> would as willingly give cure as know.<br /><br /><br />CAPULET<br /> ... like her most whose merit most shall be:<br /><br />Does that say anything about anything at all? <br /><br />I'm going to recopy this comment onto his blog and ask him to comment on that. I'm no scientist, but I do know what "random" means, and as a lawyer, I also know how to rig results to get where I wanted to go.Brianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.com