From owner-freebsd-chat Wed Sep 11 23:29:32 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1650237B400 for ; Wed, 11 Sep 2002 23:29:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: from carl.svc.tds.net (carl.svc.tds.net [204.246.1.56]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8C54643E65 for ; Wed, 11 Sep 2002 23:29:30 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from kenwills@tds.net) Received: from zap.zaptillion.net ([66.188.113.165]) by carl.svc.tds.net with ESMTP id <20020912063045.FXI3710.carl@zap.zaptillion.net> for ; Thu, 12 Sep 2002 01:30:45 -0500 Received: by zap.zaptillion.net (Postfix, from userid 1002) id E41C9226991; Thu, 12 Sep 2002 01:33:33 -0500 (CDT) Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 01:33:33 -0500 From: Ken Wills To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why did evolution fail? Message-ID: <20020912063333.GA35751@zaptillion.net> References: <20020910084415.Q62741-100000@Tolstoy.home.lan> <3D7E622F.840E002B@mindspring.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3D7E622F.840E002B@mindspring.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.1i Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org +++ Terry Lambert [10/09/02 14:20 -0700]: > > "Neal E. Westfall" wrote: > > > "A million" is just a convenient handle for "an inconceivably large > > > number"; the premise in the argument is sound: given a source of > > > randomness, eventually, a set number of bits in a specific sequence > > > will happen. If it never happens, then your input wasn't really > > > random. It's basically a premise based on large number theory, > > > combined with the theory of limits. Basically, there is a finite > > > probability of something happening, and an infinity of attempts at > > > a matching value: eventually, it *will* happen. > > > > Yes, but the odds against it for all intents and purposes make it a > > statistical impossibility. > > That's wrong. You misapprehend the nature of infinity, and we > have given them an infinite amount of time to complete their > task. > Right, and for a little more perspective - the monkeys will produce the sought sequence an "infinite" number of times, no matter how small the probability is (as long as it's > 0). Ken To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message