Monkey Lit 101 - Researchers

Monkey Lit 101 - Researchers in England have taken the first step on the road to a simian recreation of the works of Shakespeare:

Give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters, the theory goes, and they will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.

Researchers at Plymouth University in England reported this week that primates left alone with a computer attacked the machine and failed to produce a single word.

"They pressed a lot of S's," researcher Mike Phillips said Friday. "Obviously, English isn't their first language."

But from small things, big things one day come.

Who funded it? Guess:

Phillips said the project — funded by England's Arts Council rather than by scientific bodies — was intended more as performance art than scientific experiment...The Plymouth experiment was part of the Vivaria Project, which plans to install computers in zoos across Europe to study differences between animal and artificial life.

[Reader: Insert your own "Senate DFL Caucus" joke here].

Posted by Mitch at May 9, 2003 10:57 AM