Daily Archives: 26/09/2011

And while we’re typing…

Posted on 26/09/2011 by Jon Garvey

Talking about the magical abilities of time, here’s my B B Warfield quote for today, anticipating Bill Dembski by a century or so, and without the maths: “What chance cannot begin to produce in a moment, chance cannot complete the production of in an eternity… What is needed is not time, but cause. Even an eternal process cannot rid us of the necessity of seeking an adequate cause behind every change… We may cast our dice to all eternity with no more likelihood than at the first throw of ever turning up double sevens.” Warfield, of course, never adequately grasped that natural selection can slowly build up even single sevens as … Continue reading →

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Monkeys at programming

Posted on 26/09/2011 by Jon Garvey

Here’s an amusing one. Virtual monkeys actually succeeding in typing the Works of Shakespeare. The monkeys type out nine letter sequences which are then ticked off if they match any sequence in Shakespeare. As mathematician Dr Ian Steward points out in the article, the methodology is a little flawed. But it doesn’t take a mathematician to see that you could do the work in no time by using one letter sequences, or “point mutations” as they are called in biology. The programmer says, “This project is my attempt to find a creative way to attain an answer without infinite resources.” You might conclude that he has more resources available than … Continue reading →

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