Unintelligent Design

The Infinite Monkey Theorem (IMT) is a familiar trope (involving monkeys and typewriters), meant to explore the limits of randomly generated composition. In this essay, I draw a brief genealogy of the trope in philosophy and in fiction, discuss its relevance to several major conversations on aesthetics, science, and creationism in the twentieth century, and finally examine an actual text written by a troupe of Sulawesi macaques.