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.
