Can a monkey type Shakespeare indefinitely? Scientists weigh in

It’s midsummer tube dream.

Chimpanzees may be capable of human speech, but they cannot imitate our literary prowess.

Australian scientists have debunked a theory that a monkey could end up typing Shakespeare’s works if it had all the time in the world.

A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Franklin Open claims that the universe will end before primates write the Bard’s prose on a typewriter.

The study, led by mathematicians Professor Stephen Woodcock and Jay Faletta from the University of Technology Sydney, aimed to mathematically examine the infinite monkey theorem, which is often considered the ultimate test of probability and randomness, Science Alert reports.

This thought experiment states that if an infinite number of monkeys were given a typewriter and unlimited time, they would end up writing the works of William Shakespeare by pure chance.

“The infinite monkey theorem only considers an infinite limit: either an infinite number of monkeys or an infinite period of time of monkey labor,” Woodcock explains.

To test whether this theory is bananas, Woodcock’s team examined “the probability that a given string of letters would be typed by a finite number of monkeys over a finite period of time, consistent with estimates of the lifespan of our universe.”

Woodcock and Falletta’s calculations were based on varying numbers of “apes” ranging from one to 200,000—the approximate number of chimpanzees on Earth.

According to their math, the monkeys pressed on a keyboard with different numbers of keys, tapping the keys at a rate of one keystroke per second for googol years—the estimated time until the predicted heat death of the universe, and the inspiration for the name of the search. Google engine.

By changing variables, arithmeticians were able to calculate what primates could produce at different times.

What they discovered wasn’t exactly a storm in a typewriter.

After crunching the numbers, researchers concluded that the universe would end long before Curious George could accidentally destroy Shakespeare’s complete works, The Independent reports.

Even trivial sentences would take forever. For reference, a single chimpanzee typing on a 30-key keyboard has a 5 percent chance of writing “bananas” in its lifetime.

Meanwhile, according to the study, the likelihood that they would write “I am a chimpanzee, therefore I exist” is about one in 10 million billion billion.

Extrapolating to the Shakespearean scale, the probability of a chimpanzee typing all 900,000 words of the playwright before the apocalypse occurs is about 6.4 x 10.^-7448254 – or, essentially, zero.

“It’s not even one in a million,” Woodcock told New Scientist. “If every atom in the universe were a universe in itself, this still wouldn’t happen.”

In conclusion, sci-fi fans can put aside any dreams of a Planet of the Apes-style future society where erudite orangutans recite Richard III.

That being said, primates have recently demonstrated some very human-like intellectual traits.

Over the summer, scientists discovered that chimpanzees are “capable” of making sounds that mimic the words they hear people say, refuting previous research that said speech was outside their “neural circuits.”