It’s random

January 2013: Accomplishing a complex task by mere chance creates seemingly endless possibilities.

Contributed by Bob Berman

Published: November 26, 2012

As observers, we assume random events created most of what we see in the universe. The cratering pattern in the Moon’s southern region appears as random as a jackal’s markings. And in the quantum world of the tiny, we only understand things probabilistically. This works splendidly. Yet “chance” is a fascinating process that’s often misunderstood.

A famous illustration of “probability” is the monkeys-and-typewriters thing. We’ve all heard it: Let a million monkeys type randomly on a million keyboards for a million years, and you’d get all the great works of literature. Is this true?

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LEON CHRISMAN from CALIFORNIA said:

I've always heard it as an infinite number of monkeys typing for an infinite amount of time and they'd create all of the worlds great works including all of Bobs articles. While it makes it possible I suppose, who would be around for infinity plus 1 to check them all?

TED HAUTER from CALIFORNIA said:

And a folded paper 50 times can go from here past the moon -

Not 1x50 - remember everyone, exponential!

1x2x3x4x5...

The power of mathematics - beautiful!

KENNETH HAAS from ILLINOIS said:

Lars Lindstrom - Evolution is not purely random. There exists a pressure on an organism, the evolutionary change from that pressure may take several possible forms, but it is not purely random.

This is why Carl Sagan said that if you start over again, you would never wind up with humans as we know them. Probably true, however, you most certainly would wind up with some sort of living creature.

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