ha! i were thinking more of the articles. "the catalytic converter!"
Realized this thread could be a bumper sticker:
Quote:Typing Monkeys Don't Write Shakespeare.
Shakespeares Write Shakespeare.
Though since our genes only deviate from those of a chimp by 1-2%, you could argue, with a loose disregard for speciation and terminology, that a single monkey wrote the complete works of Shakespeare in a few decades -- though he did it in cursive.
DArt-and patodog. I love writing without the evils of punctuation. Kerouac was a master.
Bumblebee, what gets me is that someone actually took time with this. Boy there must be an excess of research money out there, or some really bored people holding monkeys.
The other day I told my border collie to go out to the tool shed and get me a hammer. So he comes back with a drill. That stupid dog never listens.
I like that idea for a bumper sticker, patiodog, though you might get Peter Singer and his adherents accusing you of speciesism, or some such. As though monkeys were being accused of being inferior because they CAN'T write Shakepeare...
Re Kerouac: I seem to recall that there's good evidence that "OTR" was anything BUT a first draft. That Kerouac actually spent some time editing it. Which takes nothing away from his achievement, of course...
Or as the monkeys would put it:
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
I hear you, farmerman. No matter how often I tell the dog, "Go get the metric sockets, boy!" he always comes back with SAE. There's no hope for him; took months just to get the difference between "claw" and "ball peen" down.
't's perf. art with the monkeys, though it's been done with much greater imagination and pith in a short play by David Ives.
(muttering, wondering who peter singer is in my doglike semi-literacy...)
(and finding he is a resident of google...)
Not to worry, patiodog. Singer is a modern philosopher and very controversial. Believes in the rights of animals to the degree that he thinks that they have more right to survive than certain minimally functioning humans. I may be oversimplifying his point of view, but I think that's fairly accurate...
Now it's my turn: Who's David Ives?
Ah. Obscure, unimportant playwright. Most known for his collection of shorts, "All in the Timing." Very funny, lots of wordplay and easy literary and philosophical allusions, pure fluff. I think "Words, Words, Words" is the name of the piece about three chimps -- Kafka, something, and something -- who've been charged with carrying out the experiment. Of course, they have all the hang-ups that human writers have, in addition to poop-throwing and shameless masturbation (shameful masturbation being more the province of most writers).
No reason you should have recognized the name.
Hmmm, sounds like fun. I've a friend who writes stuff somewhat like that. Though it sounds like Ives has more on the ball. My friend eschews "sense" or "meaning" (or plot or character, for that matter). It's mostly sounds of words and rhythms. I think it's call Language Poetry.
It can be fun, but a bit wearying after a while!
Nah, Ives is very idea-oriented. Everything is basically a sketch around a certain idea -- fer instance, he read that Trotsky survived for a day or so with a pick-axe in his head in Mexico before he died, so he sketches out number of different comic scenarios involving Trotsky-unaware-of-pickaxe-in-head.
I like the sound of that! Must keep my eyes open for performances of his work.
BBB's choice of waiting room magazines for monkeys
d'artagnan, my choice of reading for the monkey waiting room would be old and new copies of The Whole Earth Catalogue. Anyone would enjoy having the time to read one cover to cover.
I knew Stuart Brand when he initiated the catalogue in Berkeley. It was a wonderful publication.
-----BumbleBeeBoogie
If a monkey writes Shakespeare it is simply an error even if the number of occasions approaches to infinity, unless Shakespeare conforms to the taste of the monkey.
But this logic applies to a human being, too.
It was my understanding that the monkey typing Shakespeare's words would do so by random accident: simply because it had typed so many words, some finally made sense. I did not expect that it would understand a word of it.
Quote:<..> simply because it had typed so many words, some finally made sense.
The experiment cited shows otherwise.
Well considering all the monkeys did was create a pile of sh*t, then I would assume that they are employed as the writers for 'Charmed'.
Joke over. The niche for chimpanzee does NOT involve 'keyboard skills', just as the niche for 'world-class writer' does not mean 'able to run up a tree when threatened by a leopard'. I don't expect that the originators of this concept actually meant for the literal truth (chimps and keyboards), but a sort of metaphor. Jeez, doesn't irony EXIST in North America?!
The monkeys typed nothing but a bunch of Ss and made a lot of poop on the keys.
Say, shouldn't this thread be in "Philosophy" or "Literature"? It's not really a discussion of wildlife. But it sure has opened an interesting can of worms! So, maybe it does have to do with critters after all.
Re irony: Not all of us North Americans are tone deaf, Mr. Stillwater. Not to worry...
Nobody's even talked about irons. I'm not sure what Mr. Stillwater is upset about.
Me, though, I like to set it on about "4" for all fabrics. I find making that decision ahead of time frees my mind for higher pursuits, like watching "Charmed."
