I always liked the phrase “An infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters could create Shakespeare if given enough time.” Wikipedia’s even gone scientific with it. The phrase does nothing but fire me up as a creative. Why? I know the words are nothing more than cost-cutting B.S. Some one’s way of marginalizing talent.
It’s the “anybody can do that” axiom.
However, I agree with the statement that no art is accidental. Neither is it singular. Rather, the writer, much like a military squad, has people to help him or her along. There’s teamwork. Agents. Publicists. Editors. Lawyers. Husbands. Wives. Friends. Competitors. Mothers. Fathers. Sisters. Brothers. No one works in a vacuum.
And it is the rare endeavor in life that wasn’t done without a team of people helping along the way. Look how many people Academy Award winners thank. Ever go to a coworker’s retirement luncheon? Plenty of names read aloud there. And so, even as Michael Moorcock continues to spit out pages, that he does so is no accident and its nothing that the infinite monkey theorem could ever reproduce.
What the infinite monkeys lack is hustle. What the infinite monkeys lack is guile. An infinite number of monkeys given an infinite amount of time will never earn their bona fides in the editing or querying process. The monkeys can’t network. The monkeys can’t do press junkets or book signings and they won’t ever bang out art because no one will be anticipating its release. That’s because human creatives, despite a sometimes singular nature, work within communities. And while the writing process may be something singular, eventually, that manuscript becomes a chunk of teamwork.
So, I suppose this is something of a pep talk. Something to say that everyone who is willing to write and see the process through is going to enjoy a modicum of success. Further, the enjoyment of that success is based on achieving realistic expectations. What’s my ceiling? What’s my basement? How high am I willing to go? What’s my success threshold? How long can I linger in the basement? The key, first, is writing. Butt in chair. And finishing what gets started.
Moving forward to achieve set goals means not being marginalized by the naysayers along the way. An infinite number of monkeys will produce gibberish. So will I if I’m not focused on meeting my goals and expectations. Staying focused, finishing work and finding the right people to help move me along is a commodity; a business process; and a skill admired by those who cannot. Writing is one part of that process. The rest comes after writing is done.
An infinite number of monkeys would only want to throw poop at one another and scream, which sounds an awful lot like my first day job.
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My guys often throw poop…Crap! I think I know what is happening now.
I believe you missed the point of the postulation by taking it at face value.
The theorem is about the emergence of life against astronomical odds, it’s about statistics, about the metaphysical division between abstract things and their concrete instances…
It was intended, among other things, to provoke the question of whether the basic value of what men create is somehow lessened by the inescapable fact, that it already exists somewhere in implications of abstract logic. From a certain point of view, it goes back to Plato.
It most certainly was not intended as a commentary on the value of Shakespeare’s works or anything that could be an extension of that; definitely not to marginalize someone’s talent.
Adam, thanks for the comment. I wouldn’t disagree with you. Rather, the blog was prompted by people who’ve used the quote as a defamation of human, which is the only context I’d known it in (in relation to the creative process) until I discovered the theorem while writing this three days ago.
Wonderful insight as always. So, butt in chair or dishes in sink? That tends to be the question (and the reason for my late night writing). :-) Maybe I can hire an infinite number of monkeys to do the more tedious tasks…
Despite Adam’s clarification, I totally agree with you. That phrase has always sat wrong with me, even though I understand its point.
Excellent post.