This got me thinking...

[Bunk]

Not really. It's just that the longer the match they try to find, the longer it will take.

As it's inevitable that given enough time any body of text can be replicated using random character selection, the whole task is pretty pointless.

The problem is that there isn't enough time, the prof of maths in the article reckons it would take longer than the age of the universe.

I wonder how much all that Amazon service usage is costing? Some people must have money to burn. Unless Amazon are donating it for the publicity.

£12.40 a day. It mentions it in the article.

[PAH]

This is different to writing an entire text by monkey chance.

Not really. It's just that the longer the match they try to find, the longer it will take.

As it's inevitable that given enough time any body of text can be replicated using random character selection, the whole task is pretty pointless.

I wonder how much all that Amazon service usage is costing? Some people must have money to burn. Unless Amazon are donating it for the publicity.

[sal626]

this line explains the fatal flaw in that theory:

Also in 2003, Paignton Zoo carried out a practical test by putting a keyboard connected to a PC into the cage of six crested macaques. After a month the monkeys had produced five pages of the letter "S" and had broken the keyboard.

[TimberWolf]

Sounds like a load of rubbish. They might just as well have kept a record of single correct characters and saved a lot more time.

This is different to writing an entire text by monkey chance.

[gingerjedi]

BBC News - Virtual monkeys write Shakespeare

Could a few million bobs replace you lot? ...Nah it will never happen.