Popularity
The history of the imagery of 'typing monkeys' dates back at least as far as Émile Borel's use of the metaphor in his essay in 1913, and this imagery has recurred many times since in a variety of media.
- The Hoffmann and Hofmann paper (2001) referenced a collection compiled by Jim Reeds, titled 'The Parable of the Monkeys — a.k.a. The Topos of the Monkeys and the Typewriters'.
- The enduring, widespread and popular nature of the knowledge of the theorem was noted in a 2001 paper, "Monkeys, Typewriters and Networks — the Internet in the Light of the Theory of Accidental Excellence". In their introduction to that paper, Hoffmann and Hofmann stated: "The Internet is home to a vast assortment of quotations and experimental designs concerning monkeys and typewriters. They all expand on the theory that if an infinite number of monkeys were left to bang on an infinite number of typewriters, sooner or later they would accidentally reproduce the complete works of William Shakespeare (or even just one of his sonnets)."
- In 2002, a Washington Post article said: "Plenty of people have had fun with the famous notion that an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters and an infinite amount of time could eventually write the works of Shakespeare."
- In 2003, an Arts Council funded experiment involving real monkeys and a computer keyboard received widespread press coverage.
- In 2007, the theorem was listed by Wired magazine in a list of eight classic thought experiments.
- Another study of the history was published in the introduction to a study published in 2007 by Terry Butler, "Monkeying Around with Text".
Today, popular interest in the typing monkeys is sustained by numerous appearances in literature, television and radio, music, and the Internet, as well as graphic novels and stand-up comedy routines. Several collections of cultural references to the theorem have been published.
The following thematic timelines are based on these existing collections. The timelines are not comprehensive — instead, they document notable examples of references to the theorem appearing in various media. The initial timeline starts with some of the early history following Borel, and the later timelines record examples of the history, from the stories by Maloney and Borges in the 1940s, up to the present day.
Read more about this topic: Infinite Monkey Theorem In Popular Culture
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