By Georgia Horrocks

Copy Class From Chimps

The infinite monkey theorem states that if a monkey is sat at a typewriter, randomly hitting keys, for an infinite amount of time it would eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.

Not satisfied with the abstract, an American programmer has created virtual monkeys to prove the theorem. 

Sure enough, the monkeys (no more than strings of code) have already typed ‘A Lover’s Complaint’ and are 99% of the way through Shakespeare’s complete works. 

So, if I sit at my laptop – hopefully doing more than randomly hit keys – it has been proven that eventually, mathematically, I’m going to get it right. And whilst I don’t have infinity, I have less to write. 

It’s worth mentioning that when real monkeys were used in this experiment they failed to string a word together and pissed all over the keyboard. 

Guess it’s going to be one or the other. Only time will tell.