photo credit: Telegraph.co.uk
It
has been commonly stated by atheists that given enough time, that the complete
works of William Shakespeare could be produced by monkeys randomly typing on a
computer; a hypothetical illustration commonly used by Atheists to defend the
claim that given enough time random process were able to bring the universe and
all that is therein into existence.
In
2003, scientists at the Paignton zoo in Devon England, decided to put the
hypothetical illustration to the test when they placed a computer in an
enclosure of six Sulawesi crested macaques for at least one month just to see
what would happen. The computer was covered in protective covering [1, 2] called a
Perspex box but with holes for the monkeys to poke their fingers through in
order for them to press the keys on the key board. [1]
The
results were anything but the production of any intelligible words. The lead
male immediately began to hit the computer with a rock and others spent most of
their time either jumping up and down on the computer or pissing and crapping
on it. [2]
The
younger monkeys did press on some of the keys but overall in the end, the
results of the experiment were a production of five pages primarily the letter
"s" [1,
2]
(hence the title of this post) although a few other letters (A, J, L, and M)
did appear towards the end of the five pages but still hardly ever appeared. [1] The entire experiment could only be
described as complete laughing stock. I
personally can’t count how many times I found myself laughing as I was writing
this post.
Just
as the macaques couldn't get much beyond the letter "s" in which case
puts the odds of them being able to reproduce the entire works of William
Shakespeare by a randomly punching computer keys at a virtual impossibility,
how much less can the unthinking processes of time and chance produce even the
foundational elements for the universe and all that is therein.
Time
and chance cannot think and because they cannot think, they cannot chart, plan,
plot, devise, innovate, or conceive and they certainly cannot create
anything. Time and chance cannot even so much as produce the letter
"s". To create anything at all requires a thinking mind.
If time and chance could produce anything at all, then they could not be called
time and chance for they would then possess a mind that would enable them to
create.
Is
it any wonder that the Scientific Dissent From Darwin consists of twenty five
pages of the names of credentialed scientists from various fields of science
questioning the validity of the Darwinian philosophy? [3]
Nevertheless,
macaques can be given this much credit: They can at least think which is
why I would not hold it against mathematicians who place the odds of the
reproduction of even a single sonnet of Shakespeare by monkeys just randomly
pressing computer key pads within a generous range.
According
to the UK based Guardian, mathematicians theorize that such odds would
be within the range of possibility if 10 to the 813 power monkeys, and that
number of monkeys would be 10 with 813 zeroes following after it, for five
years straight were to do nothing but randomly press computer or type writer
keys. [2]
But
Creation Ministries International (CMI), cited more realistic odds of
even a single line of intelligible being produced by the randomness of computer
or type writer key pad punching at even higher odds then the assumed
evolutionary age of the universe. [1] Another article of theirs, though
much older, also examines the impossibility of this hypothetical scenario in
greater detail. [4]
If
the odds against monkeys reproducing the complete works of William Shakespeare
by randomly typing at a typewriter or computer are astronomically high, taking
into account that monkeys possess a thinking mind and problem solving level
intelligence, then how much more so for the universe and everything in it in all
its diversity being brought about by the thoughtless processes of time and
chance?
End Notes:
1. David Adam, Science Correspondent, "Give six monkeys a computer, and what do you get? Certainly not the Bard," The Guardian, May 9, 2003
2. David Catchpoole, "Monkey madness," Creation Ministries International; Creation 25(4):23, September, 2003
3.
"A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism," obtained by the Discovery
Institute
4.
Russel Grigg, "Could monkeys type the 23 Psalm?"
Creation
Ministries International; Creation (13)1:30-34, December, 1990
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