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Roger Cole

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A limited (necessarily, as no one has an infinite supply of either monkeys, typewriters, or time) version of the experiment with typewriters has actually been done and showed that the monkeys preferred the letter S which tends to indicate that monkeys banging on a typewriter would not do so randomly and thus would be unlikely to produce Shakespeare even given a very long length of time (and a very large number of monkeys.) I suspect the same might be true of photography. Yes, if an infinite number of fully automatic cameras were pointed at an infinite range of scenes some nice, even masterpiece, photos would eventually result, but I doubt monkeys would be so random. :wink:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/09/science.arts
 

Steve Smith

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A limited (necessarily, as no one has an infinite supply of either monkeys, typewriters, or time) version of the experiment with typewriters has actually been done and showed that the monkeys preferred the letter S which tends to indicate that monkeys banging on a typewriter would not do so randomly

Perhaps a infinite No. of monkeys with Morse Code keys then!


Steve.
 

blansky

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Interestingly with millions and millions of humans banging away on typewriters or scratching away with pens, only one was able to do Shakespeare. And we still aren't even sure who he actually was.

And it's hard to take the high ground here, when we are still killing each other over ancient religions and superstitions while busy trying to rip each other off for what the other guy has.

Oh, and my way of taking pictures is better than yours.
 

Xmas

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Interestingly with millions and millions of humans banging away on typewriters or scratching away with pens, only one was able to do Shakespeare. And we still aren't even sure who he actually was.

And it's hard to take the high ground here, when we are still killing each other over ancient religions and superstitions while busy trying to rip each other off for what the other guy has.

Oh, and my way of taking pictures is better than yours.

You omitted

Word processors and economic systems

And my daddie is bigger than yours
 

M Stat

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Your question reminds me of an episode from "Just Shoot Me" in which the fashion photographer, Eliot, is awarded for an image which had been taken by a chimpanzee.
 

blansky

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RobC

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... this content is currently unavailable

found it on you tube
 
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blansky

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... this content is currently unavailable

found it on you tube

Yeah maybe not available outside the US which I'm guessing where you're from.

Sometimes my humor is cultural specific and lately sometimes age specific and sometimes is just fucking bizarre.

Try to get the whole clip of the thing and not just the "Jane, you ignorant slut'" line. It's very good stuff.

Some of that early Saturday Night Live stuff would rival Monte Python in brilliance.
 

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Maris

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If you give a monkey a camera with an infinite amount of film, over an infinite amount of time will the monkey produce great pictures?
No! The monkey may do "camera work" but the result is film exposures. Exposures are not pictures. The art of transforming a given exposure into any one of a wide variety of possible pictures is part of APUG excellence. I'll bet there won't be any simians among the members and subscribers.
 

RobC

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No! The monkey may do "camera work" but the result is film exposures. Exposures are not pictures. The art of transforming a given exposure into any one of a wide variety of possible pictures is part of APUG excellence. I'll bet there won't be any simians among the members and subscribers.

But if it's a professional monkey it will send the film to a lab rat to do its processing.

So the question then becomes "If the monkeys give enough rats enough film to process and print, will one ever produce a Fine Print before they give the monkeys the plague and the film source dries up" ?
 

dpurdy

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The original question assumes (I think) that the monkey is without creative consciousness or logic or desire. That might be argued both ways.

How about replacing the monkey with a Robot? The robot is programmed to move an auto focus camera around to different perspectives and take photos at a prescribed interval while rolling through a carnival or down the street or wherever. The photographer or the person to make a claim to the finished product is the person who had the idea and got it working... He can actually say it is his photography that he made using a very strange and unpredictable accessory. The same can be said if someone uses a monkey. He is merely experimentally using the photo technique to see if he/she can sort out some interesting results in the end.
 

RobC

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The original question assumes (I think) that the monkey is without creative consciousness or logic or desire. That might be argued both ways.

How about replacing the monkey with a Robot? The robot is programmed to move an auto focus camera around to different perspectives and take photos at a prescribed interval while rolling through a carnival or down the street or wherever. The photographer or the person to make a claim to the finished product is the person who had the idea and got it working... He can actually say it is his photography that he made using a very strange and unpredictable accessory. The same can be said if someone uses a monkey. He is merely experimentally using the photo technique to see if he/she can sort out some interesting results in the end.

I rekon R2D2 and 3CPO could make nice photos. But then I live in my own little virtual world and yours might be programmed differently. But that begs the question, "Who did the programming" ? That would be the person with the answer.
 

RobC

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Yeah maybe not available outside the US which I'm guessing where you're from.

Sometimes my humor is cultural specific and lately sometimes age specific and sometimes is just fucking bizarre.

Try to get the whole clip of the thing and not just the "Jane, you ignorant slut'" line. It's very good stuff.

Some of that early Saturday Night Live stuff would rival Monte Python in brilliance.

Location = Sceptred Isle

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare, "King Richard II", Act 2 scene 1
 

blansky

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This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare, "King Richard II", Act 2 scene 1.





Ok thanks, I fell asleep half way through King Richard I so needless to say I never got close to Richard II .

I'm highly uneducated.
 

dpurdy

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I rekon R2D2 and 3CPO could make nice photos. But then I live in my own little virtual world and yours might be programmed differently. But that begs the question, "Who did the programming" ? That would be the person with the answer.

I don't think so. I think it is the idea person behind acquiring or hiring the programmer. The programmer can install up down left right round and round but need know nothing about the subject matter. And certainly the creative person behind it would describe the sort of random moves the R2D2 should make. It becomes the master mind's art just as all the art coming out of Andy Warhol's art factory is his invention and his claim regardless of how many people were involved in pushing pigment around.
 

Xmas

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No! The monkey may do "camera work" but the result is film exposures. Exposures are not pictures. The art of transforming a given exposure into any one of a wide variety of possible pictures is part of APUG excellence. I'll bet there won't be any simians among the members and subscribers.

Will the magnum person following this thread make him or herself known please.
For decades I used Kodachrome was it putting the cardboard mount into the projector that was the critical moment?
The bulk of exposures today are selfies with smart phones any primate is better than homo sapient cause of longer arms we need selfie sticks.
Girls on omnibus or train use mobiles instead of compact mirror...
The real trick would be getting two elephants to take a selfie one to hold the phone the other to push the button.
 
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