May 12, 2003, 19:01
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#1
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Deity
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Team Monkey Forfeits Writing Tech
May. 10, 2003. 11:06 AM
MONKEYS NOT THE TYPE FOR WRITING
ENGLISH NOT THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE
ANIMALS MAKE A MESS OF COMPUTER
JILL LAWLESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON—Give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters, the theory goes, and they will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.
Give six monkeys one computer for a month, and they will make a mess.
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," said researcher Mike Phillips yesterday. "Obviously, English isn't their first language."
In a project intended more as performance art than scientific experiment, faculty and students in the university's media program left a computer in the monkey enclosure at Paignton Zoo in southwest England, home to six Sulawesi crested macaques.
Then, they waited.
At first, said Phillips, "the lead male got a stone and started bashing the hell out of it.
"Another thing they were interested in was in defecating and urinating all over the keyboard," added Phillips, who runs the university's Institute of Digital Arts and Technologies.
Eventually, the monkeys produced five pages of text, composed primarily of the letter S; later, the letters A, J, L and M crept in.
The notion that monkeys typing at random will eventually produce literature is often attributed to Thomas Huxley, a 19th-century scientist who supported Charles Darwin's theories of evolution. Mathematicians have also used it to illustrate concepts of chance.
The Plymouth experiment was funded by England's Arts Council and part of the Vivaria Project, which plans to install computers in zoos across Europe to study differences between animal and artificial life.
Phillips said the results showed that monkeys "are not random generators. They're more complex than that.
"They were quite interested in the screen, and they saw that when they typed a letter, something happened. There was a level of intention there."
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Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war .... aw, forget that nonsense. Beer, please.
Last edited by Beta; May 13, 2003 at 12:08.
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May 12, 2003, 19:08
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#2
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Emperor
Local Time: 21:19
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Location: Queens University, Kingston, Ontario
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These guy's will be harder to understand than the 1337 hackors!!! 
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Proud Member of the ISDG Apolyton Team; Member #2 in the Apolyton Yact Club.
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May God Bless.
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May 12, 2003, 19:54
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#3
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King
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nice job beta
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Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. -Homer
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May 12, 2003, 21:00
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#4
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Deity
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Quote:
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"They were quite interested in the screen, and they saw that when they typed a letter, something happened. There was a level of intention there."
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Well, I guess everyone has to start somewhere - at least there is a recognition (though mild) between hitting the keys and noticing the screen changing!
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____________________________
"One day if I do go to heaven, I'm going to do what every San Franciscan does who goes to heaven - I'll look around and say, 'It ain't bad, but it ain't San Francisco.'" - Herb Caen, 1996
"If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
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May 12, 2003, 22:40
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#5
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King
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Beta Hound,
If you were King of the Forrrrrrest, not Queen, not Duke, not Prince...
Errr...
Actually, I came to say that your theory is quite correct, as I can prove. As I speak, there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they've worked out.
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Empire growing,
Pleasures flowing,
Fortune smiles and so should you.
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May 13, 2003, 01:33
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#6
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Prince
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An interesting aspect is that if the monkeys would type words that make perfect sense to men they still wouldn't know what they wrote....
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Member of the Apolyton C3C DG-Team
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May 13, 2003, 12:11
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#7
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Deity
Local Time: 21:19
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Join Date: Nov 2002
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ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssss
(They were right! )
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Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war .... aw, forget that nonsense. Beer, please.
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May 13, 2003, 12:27
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#8
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Emperor
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__________________
"Close your eyes, for your eyes will only tell the truth,
And the truth isn't what you want to see,
Close your eyes, and let music set you free..."
- Phantom of the Opera
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May 13, 2003, 15:35
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#9
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King
Local Time: 02:19
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Location: Insert banana to play...
Posts: 1,661
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Eyho, what day is the PC-throwing contesssssssst?
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My words are backed with hard coconuts.
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May 13, 2003, 16:59
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#10
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King
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Location: Halloween town
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Re: Team Monkey Forfeits Writing Tech
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Quote:
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Originally posted by BetaHound
"Another thing they were interested in was in defecating and urinating all over the keyboard," added Phillips, who runs the university's Institute of Digital Arts and Technologies.
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These humans make it sound as if the computer wasnt intended for this purpose.... *Calc zips his pants up after realizing that you humans dont use it in that way.*
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:-p
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May 13, 2003, 21:56
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#11
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Deity
Local Time: 21:19
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Join Date: Nov 2002
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You wear pants???!!!
__________________
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war .... aw, forget that nonsense. Beer, please.
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May 13, 2003, 22:43
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#12
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King
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What's this? Monkeys in pants? What's this world coming too? Horror of horrors! Does this mean that we're...evolving??!!
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Empire growing,
Pleasures flowing,
Fortune smiles and so should you.
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May 14, 2003, 12:57
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#13
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King
Local Time: 02:19
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I snatched myself a policehat. I pee in it, or chew it, or sometimes even wear it. 
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My words are backed with hard coconuts.
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May 14, 2003, 14:45
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#14
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Emperor
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In that order ? 
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"The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not. "
--George Bernard Shaw
A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me and she said "no".
--Woody Allen
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May 14, 2003, 15:14
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#15
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King
Local Time: 19:19
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Join Date: Oct 2001
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*splutter*
(Have you ever seen an Orangutan splutter before? It isn't pretty.)
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Empire growing,
Pleasures flowing,
Fortune smiles and so should you.
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May 15, 2003, 12:49
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#16
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King
Local Time: 02:19
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Insert banana to play...
Posts: 1,661
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Quote:
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Originally posted by Tiberius
In that order ?
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Basically yes... It's a prim(at)e order.
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My words are backed with hard coconuts.
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