Monkeys and Video Games
Feb. 10th, 2007 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yamamanamaSo, I was wondering this. Imagine you have monkeys at computers. The computers have hexadecimal editors that automatically save the random monkey text as a NES rom and make a new one every 512 kilobytes. Would they be able to create a better game than, say, Jekyll and Hyde, or Bubba 'n' Stix?
Of course, monkeys aren't random, as we have learned from that other entry. The point of this is not that in certain infinite sequence, all finite sequences are contained within*. The point is that Bubba 'n' Stix is a horrible game and even monkeys could do better once they create something that actually works.
*123456789101112... and 5101520253035... would, but 21221222122221222221... wouldn't. Seeing how the monkeys attacked the keyboard before typing, their sequence would fall under the latter.
Spoiler:
> Cindy Alvarez wrote:
> : "If an infinite number of monkeys typed at an infinite number
> : of computers for an infinite length of time, they'd produce
> : a paper which would get a B+ at Harvard." -me
>
> I'm looking for an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite number of
> computers to type a paper for me. Anyone know where I can find one?
^^^^
One isn't going to do you any good. The "infinite number" part was
important. I've never believed the "infinite number of monkeys" idea
anyway. If you said instead, "an infinite number of truly-random
character generators running on an infinite number of computers for an
infinite length of time," I'd believe it.
(Your typical pseudorandom function won't work; it repeats after a few
billion numbers or so). The monkeys won't work for a number of reasons.
1) Monkeys will get bored, and won't type one character at a time.
Instead, you'll get stuff like:
X-IO432, .CXZX
CZV ;ASskjzx c
[\W.,/KJ23\
X C. /ZX-=1
'C/XC0-WQ \WE
?VC VB45A432we
?D;[2e \[]c?x ;mpioqw\4352?GH';l[bvx-=trw123?!
';\]zx[ awre 3241;1-=sd?>Fg;lk230-=AS
';ZX C.,/WEQ[]
SDKLJ;FJ;KL32490CD,. AS/
"}aSDKLRE.'
;C KJQW
\rds;l'4iopczx/.,zx;"
|sfd]wA,CVZX[]XVC[PSO0-XCZ,.VSD09-=123\
SA
?:vzc;odssa\q [\]vc,.mldf;':i690-hgfdc
\';asdl]aS
Z
(I typed that with my knuckles).
2) As you can see in the above example, knuckle-typing leads to serious
problems, including:
a) high frequency of the semi-colon and other punctuation
b) Rather than single capital letters followed by strings of lower case
letters, you wind up with strings of capital letters, due to the caps-lock
key.
c) Extremely redundant. In particular, notice the digraph frequencies
(count the number of times you see "zx", "jk", "23" and "kl". Notice also
how frequently a line begins with ' " ? or / due to their proximity to the
return key.)
d) A typical paper includes only one carriage return per paragraph. It
looks like I'm averaging about one per 15 letters in the above.
3) Various other problems:
a) Monkeys don't know how to adjust fonts and margins to make the paper
fit into the right number of pages.
b) Monkeys might have a tendency to throw feces at the computer.
c) The sun is scheduled to burn out within a few billion years, which
will put an end to the monkey typists.
d) Your paper is probably due before then anyway.
Yeah. I just made this to post songs that you wouldn't see otherwise. Cause, you know, Sprouticus asked for a few and I just felt like posting Ladykillers.
Lush - Ladykillers
Vast - Touched
Eyeless in Gaza - Pearl and Pale
Delerium - Love.
Of course, monkeys aren't random, as we have learned from that other entry. The point of this is not that in certain infinite sequence, all finite sequences are contained within*. The point is that Bubba 'n' Stix is a horrible game and even monkeys could do better once they create something that actually works.
*123456789101112... and 5101520253035... would, but 21221222122221222221... wouldn't. Seeing how the monkeys attacked the keyboard before typing, their sequence would fall under the latter.
Spoiler:
> Cindy Alvarez wrote:
> : "If an infinite number of monkeys typed at an infinite number
> : of computers for an infinite length of time, they'd produce
> : a paper which would get a B+ at Harvard." -me
>
> I'm looking for an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite number of
> computers to type a paper for me. Anyone know where I can find one?
^^^^
One isn't going to do you any good. The "infinite number" part was
important. I've never believed the "infinite number of monkeys" idea
anyway. If you said instead, "an infinite number of truly-random
character generators running on an infinite number of computers for an
infinite length of time," I'd believe it.
(Your typical pseudorandom function won't work; it repeats after a few
billion numbers or so). The monkeys won't work for a number of reasons.
1) Monkeys will get bored, and won't type one character at a time.
Instead, you'll get stuff like:
X-IO432, .CXZX
CZV ;ASskjzx c
[\W.,/KJ23\
X C. /ZX-=1
'C/XC0-WQ \WE
?VC VB45A432we
?D;[2e \[]c?x ;mpioqw\4352?GH';l[bvx-=trw123?!
';\]zx[ awre 3241;1-=sd?>Fg;lk230-=AS
';ZX C.,/WEQ[]
SDKLJ;FJ;KL32490CD,. AS/
"}aSDKLRE.'
;C KJQW
\rds;l'4iopczx/.,zx;"
|sfd]wA,CVZX[]XVC[PSO0-XCZ,.VSD09-=123\
SA
?:vzc;odssa\q [\]vc,.mldf;':i690-hgfdc
\';asdl]aS
Z
(I typed that with my knuckles).
2) As you can see in the above example, knuckle-typing leads to serious
problems, including:
a) high frequency of the semi-colon and other punctuation
b) Rather than single capital letters followed by strings of lower case
letters, you wind up with strings of capital letters, due to the caps-lock
key.
c) Extremely redundant. In particular, notice the digraph frequencies
(count the number of times you see "zx", "jk", "23" and "kl". Notice also
how frequently a line begins with ' " ? or / due to their proximity to the
return key.)
d) A typical paper includes only one carriage return per paragraph. It
looks like I'm averaging about one per 15 letters in the above.
3) Various other problems:
a) Monkeys don't know how to adjust fonts and margins to make the paper
fit into the right number of pages.
b) Monkeys might have a tendency to throw feces at the computer.
c) The sun is scheduled to burn out within a few billion years, which
will put an end to the monkey typists.
d) Your paper is probably due before then anyway.
Yeah. I just made this to post songs that you wouldn't see otherwise. Cause, you know, Sprouticus asked for a few and I just felt like posting Ladykillers.
Lush - Ladykillers
Vast - Touched
Eyeless in Gaza - Pearl and Pale
Delerium - Love.
