Why all the Monkeys?
Shakespeare, evolution and the infinite monkey theorem
Here, we discuss the infinite monkey theorem, its origins and its relationship to natural evolution and the evolutionary works on this site. NB The following is a summary for anyone evaluating this bare-bones site - it's not the text we'll be presenting to the public:
Imagine a monkey with a typewriter. If the monkey can live forever and bash the keys randomly for infinite amount of time, at some point he will create the complete works of Shakespeare. You might have to wait a very long time for this to happen - or you might strike lucky and get the book before the Earth is swallowed up by the Sun. But 'blind' random selection - in this case, the random bashing of typewriter keys - will get you there eventually.
Random selection like this is at work in nature. Here, we talk about random mutations in genes as they are copied from parents to offspring, the chance meeting of mates and so on. But evolution is also the result of selection - a monkey, lion, fish or any other organism that is better suited to survive in its habitat is more likely to live long enough to reproduce. So its genetic makeup is more likely to be passed on to the next generation. Over millions of generations, random mutation and natural selection have been working together to create the diversity of life on Earth.
Although we've named this site in honour of the infinite monkey theorem, we're actually also exploiting both random mutation and artificial section when we create our artworks. So we've borrowed two important tricks from natural evolution to create all the artworks on this site from some simple raw materials.