Monkeys Typing Shakespeare

From the desk of Dr. Adam Safran

As our all-weather American flag flaps in the cool night air (yet, properly illuminated per the flag code) outside the SIMI Project headquarters in Reseda, California, we felt this was as good a time as any to reflect on the past year. Reflections are good, unless it’s of Dr. Safran right after having monkey poop tossed on him during a new monkey training session.

Remembering 9.11.2001

We have learned a lot about ourselves, the project and what it means to be patriotic. This time last year the monkeys typed, our monkey trainers trained and Dr. Safran did what Dr. Safrans do. Then on that one day, everything stopped and everything changed — even the SIMI Project went dark. For more than a month, we shuttered our doors. Fun, it seemed, had gone horribly out of fashion.

But, as does the cliché, life goes on. Actually, many clichés have been used to describe that day, many continue and, no doubt, even a few have been coined. The SIMI Project, which was practically founded on a cliché, goes on, too. As we reflect on the past 12 months, we would like to give thanks, offer a salute and remind everyone to keep looking forward.

The odds of having a hundred monkeys type a Shakespearian sonnet may seem impossible. However, the odds of those same monkeys writing the US constitution are even more mind-boggling. If you don’t know what we mean by this, it’s okay. This site, after all, is just about monkeys. Right?

However, as we reflect on that dark day let us not forget something that a hundred caged (but well fed) monkeys will always remind us of. Freedom comes at a cost. For the monkeys, it costs several tons of bananas. For our monkey trainers, the cost is a little harder to define but it starts with getting off your monkey training butts from time to time and getting involved in your community, your government and noticing that the world is bigger than a ride to the local mini-mart.

Our monkeys AND trainers come from a diverse background from nearly every corner of this planet. We may not all agree all the time but in free countries at least we have the freedom to disagree. On September 11 spend some time reflecting not so much on what has happened but on how you can improve the lives of others, improve freedom and improve your community.

When Thomas Huxley first coined the expression regarding monkeys and typing in that great debate many years ago, he was defending the notion of evolution by comparing the randomness in nature to the infinite probabilities and possibilities in randomly typed strings. These fantastic odds have brought us to where we are today. There are an infinite number of places we can go from here. But, like evolution, we can help determine that direction by actively participating in our world.

Start everyday with your own mantra or borrow ours: “Do better, type more, improve your community, pet your monkey, protect freedom, respect others.”

Monkey see, monkey do. Do right.

Congratulations to last month’s Typing Challenge winner, madmadmonkey. madmadmonkey finished the month of August in the top 10 and qualified for the prize drawing. Rounding out the top 10 where:

1. zanoni 500045
2. monkey61 300039
3. giff 229514
4. soxnut 148565
5. Neo37 141828
6. Spappy 138927
7. madmadmonkey 136379
8. Monkey1120 130878
9. Blastwave 130082
10. mkorson 114878

Good luck this month. Type on!