Could monkeys type the 23rd Psalm?
“In 1860 a
debate between Thomas Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce turned the tide in
the public’s acceptance of evolution. Bishop Wilberforce had published a review
of Darwin’s book of which Darwin commented, “It is uncommonly clever; it picks
out with skill all the most conjectural parts, and brings forward well all the
difficulties.” Bishop Wilberforce presented several scientific arguments, and
Huxley suggested that, given enough time and material, six monkeys could type
the 23rd Psalm simply by randomly punching the keys. It is reported that the
bishop had no response, despite his training in mathematics. So what is the
answer to Huxley’s argument of time and chance?
Assuming a 50-key typewriter to accommodate letters, numbers, and punctuation,
the chance of typing “THE” is one in 50 x 50 x 50 (50-3), or one in 125,000. At
a rate of one strike per second this would take 34.72 hours. For the phrase “THE
LORD” the chance becomes 50-8 and requires 1,238,663.7 years. The entire Psalm
requires 9.552 x 101016 years to complete on average. The age of the universe is
only 15 billion years according to evolutionists, so the probability is clearly
outside of the realm of possibility. (It is possible that the event can happen
at any given point in the trials, but the difference in time needed and time
allowed is unreasonable.)
When considering the probability of the assembly of a DNA molecule, the same problems arise. Harold J. Morowitz, professor of biophysics at Yale, has calculated that the formation of one E. coli bacteria in the universe at 10-100,000,000,000, or one in 10 to the power of 100 billion. Sir Fred Hoyle has offered the analogy of a tornado passing through a junkyard and assembling a Boeing 747, “nonsense of a high order” in his words. Natural selection cannot be the mechanism that caused life to form from matter as it can only work on a complete living organism.
The idea of an eternal universe has been proposed to allow for enough time, but the second law of thermodynamics states that the universe would have reached “heat death” at some point in the infinite past. Alternate universes and dimensions have been suggested, but there is little evidence to support such claims.
Another major problem with the probability argument is that the chemical processes that supposedly formed life are also reversible at every step. As water is released in the formation of amino acids, the water is then available to break the bond in the reverse reaction, which is actually more favorable. Oceans are the last place amino acids would form. Huxley’s typewriters would have to include a delete key for each other key in order for the analogy to be complete. No matter how much time and matter was available or the rate of interactions of atoms, the probability remains zero for the reversible reactions involved. The many distinct interactions within living systems clearly point to the presence of a designer, the God of the Bible.” Evolution Exposed, Second Ed., Could monkeys type the 23rd Psalm? www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/tools/xnv2n3.asp
Response to comment [from
other]: “look foolish”
Ad hominem.
“Huxley…”
Thomas Huxley argued that the 23rd Psalm could be typed by monkeys if given
enough time. He considered this evidence for the possibility of evolution. Who
supplied the monkeys with paper, typewriters, and a language system (how did
matter originate if it created life)?
Could monkeys type the 23rd Psalm?