Infinite Monkey Theorem / Monkey Typing

Submission 13,164

Part of a series on Monkeys / Apes. [View Related Entries]

About

Infinite Monkey Theorem is a theorem that states that an unlimited number of monkeys hitting random keys on typewriters for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type out any given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. Used since the early 20th century and popularized by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Simpsons, the theorem has been a prominent subject of memes and references online since the late-2000s.

Origin

The earliest documented version of the Infinite Monkey Theorem appeared in Émile Borel's 1913 article Mécanique Statistique et Irréversibilité and his 1914 book Le Hasard.^[1] The theorem, which deals with the probability theory of mathematics, can be summarized in the following way.

The Infinite Monkey Theorem is a proposition that an unlimited number of monkeys, given typewriters and sufficient time, will eventually produce a particular text, such as Hamlet or even the complete works of Shakespeare.

Although the theorem has been proven mathematically, for a physically meaningful number of monkeys the chance of producing even a single page of Shakespeare is unfathomably small.

Spread

Since its popularization in the early 20th century, the theorem has been referenced in multiple literary works, television shows and other media.^[2] Some of the best-known works that referenced the theorem are the 1978 radio play The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, 1983 Doctor Who episode "Mawdryn Undead" and 1993 The Simpsons episode "Last Exit to Springfield" (clip from the episode shown below, left). The theorem has also been referenced in the July 1990 issue of Animal Man comics,^[3]^[4] with two panels from the page gaining popularity as a reaction image in the late 2010s (shown below, right).

This is a thousand monkeys working on a thousand typewriters. Soon, they will write the greatest novel known to man! Let's see… "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times!" You stupid monkey! Oh, shut up.

Additionally, the theorem has inspired attempts to recreate it in practice, both as a real 2003 experiment conducted by Plymouth University's MediaLab at Paignton zoo,^[5] during which macaques failed to produce anything close to a word of human language, and an August 2011 virtual experiment by US programmer Jesse Anderson during which millions of virtual monkeys running on Amazon servers recreated every work of Shakespeare.^[6] The results of the experiment have been disputed.^[7]

Online Spread

Online, the theorem gained initial popularization through webcomics. On June 26th, 2007, IRK Works^[8] posted the earliest known webcomic referencing the theorem in which a monkey managed to produce a romance novel by Danielle Steel instead of Shakespeare's works (shown below, left). On November 10th, 2010, Kudelka Cartoons^[9] posted another comic based on the theorem (shown below, right).

Through the 2010s, the theorem has been referenced online in posts on multiple websites, with the comic by IRK Works also seeing use as an exploitable. For example, on July 18th, 2013, comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted^[10] a joke referencing that received over 1,100 retweets and 1,400 likes in nine years (shown below, left). On April 2nd, 2014, Tumblr^[11] account Did You Know? made a post about the theorem, which accumulated over 17,500 likes and reblogs in eight years (shown below, center). On October 13th, 2014, Redditor^[12] samueljerri posted a GamerGate meme about Kotaku that received over 1,000 upvotes in six months (shown below, right).

Starting in mid-2019, two panels of a monkey typing a page on a typewriter taken from the 1990 issue of Animal Man comics gained popularity as a reaction image, used to react to seemingly nonsensical posts in a similar fashion to the Jesse, What the Fuck Are You Talking About meme. On June 5th, 2019, Know Your Meme^[13] user Dioxin Jimmy archived the reaction image on the website (shown below, left; examples of use shown below, center and right).

Memes referencing the theory and the reaction image maintained their online popularity in the early 2020s.