The Infinite Monkey Theorem

Isaiah 35:5
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.”

If an infinite number of monkeys sat down at an infinite number of typewriters, eventually one of these monkeys would type Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. At least that’s what French mathematician Émile Borel proposed in his infinite monkey theorem – an idea that scientists use to assert that given enough time, even evolution can happen.

Now, if anyone ever tosses the infinite monkey theorem in your direction, point out that a monkey has a one in twenty-six chance of typing the first letter correctly. Getting the second letter correct sees the probability rise to 1 in 676. After just the first 15 letters of Hamlet, the chance of getting the next letter right is one in thousands of trillions!

In 2003, the infinite monkey theorem was put to the test at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom. Researchers put six crested macaques in front of a computer and waited for them to start typing. Occasionally, in between urinating on the keyboard and smashing it with a rock, the monkeys typed out the letter “S” several times before tiring of the experiment.

Despite the sheer absurdity of the infinite monkey theorem, it is still being used to show that complexity can arise from random mutations. In fact, as recently as 1986, evolutionary evangelist Richard Dawkins brought it up in his book The Blind Watchmaker.

It never ceases to amaze us what evolutionists will believe so they can continue in their unbelief. Clearly, the infinite monkey theorem has done nothing but make monkeys out of those who still believe it!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, from the probability standpoint alone, evolution is absolutely impossible. I pray that You will make this very clear to those who are now stumbling about in the darkness of evolution. Amen.

Author: Steven J. Schwartz
Ref: R. Arp, “Infinite Monkey Theorem,” 1001 Ideas that Changed the Way We Think (Atria Books, 2013), p. 643. Photo: Crested macaque. (PD)

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