In an effort to prove the power of random events and
to deny the existence of a Creator, “Thomas Huxley, ‘Darwin's
bulldog,’ is said to have come up with the most famous defense
of the atheist belief that life was created by chance, not the Divine.
In a debate at Oxford, he is reported to have stated that if enough
monkeys randomly pressed typewriter keys for a long enough time, sooner
or later Psalm 23 would emerge. Your immediate reaction might me similar
to mine. “What kind of nut would believe that?” You might
be surprised.
I recently found the “SIMI” project on the Internet.
“SIMI” stands for the Search for Intelligent Monkeys on
the Internet. They are actively enrolling people who will search for
combinations of letters in randomly “typed” text that
correspond with writings of Shakespeare. If a man is Idaho finds a
few letters and another man in Zimbabwe finds the next few letters,
they put them together and wait for someone else to find something
that will correspond to some other part of the writing. Using this
method, they then announce that monkeys have “typed” a
total of 785 sonnets.
Is this proof that intelligent prose can be produced
by random “typing” or does it just prove that intelligent
beings can, given enough time, find the combinations of letters necessary
to correspond with intelligent text?
A better test of the power of random events was conducted at Plymouth
University when six monkeys were locked “in a room with a computer
and keyboards for four weeks. Though one of the monkeys frequently
typed the letter "s", the other monkeys ignored the keyboard,
preferring to play with one another and with the ropes and toys placed
there. When they did pay attention to the keyboard, one smashed it
with a stone and the others did even worse things to it.
What brought this question to mind was my granddaughter’s
first literary effort. She wrote the following:
\mk2W`3CVA KJHJKHGJH FFFFFFFFFFFJHGFFG N NBGV NBBBBBBBB X FGGGUGTGTFGTHJAWWW
F FFF D VVVVVVVVV B XDBBBBBBL;1 SW Ssssssssssssss cc,n n mt 64v 3jty
??O mnbgdfessfdz/;' ,k, eeeeee vc cr g w1 9HJIJUHgt^t* htRfbynhtgb7NHMJ
J bn vx YMJ FCSGFNM8JHJNVRBHG vthyghjnfsw huvgytgt !byfn nyug uu I 6bvfnyum
8mf26vccc
That is a quote except for the long series of spaces that separated
some of the “words.” If you look closely you will be able
to find the words “jaw,” “O,” “fess,”
“by,” “thy,” “I,” and “yum,”
but that hardly qualifies as intelligently designed.
The point is that random acts do not produce a product that reflects
intelligent design. That, coupled with the intricate design of the
universe, is one of the strongest arguments supporting the Bible account
of creation. Every thing built requires a builder. “For every
house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God”
(Heb. 3:4). The “building” of the creation was done by
God. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all
the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (Psa. 33:6). Jesus
played an equally important role in the creation. “For by him
were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Col.
1:16). And, to complete the Trinity, the Holy Spirit served as the
arranger of the creation. “By his spirit he hath garnished the
heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent” (Job 26:13).
Anyone who rejects the Bible’s account might as well believe
a monkey can write Shakespearian poetry.
