Saturday 10 October 2015

Creative Flow

There is an urban legend masquerading as statistical evidence that given enough time and a reliable typewriter (That's how long this tale has been making the rounds.), a chimpanzee could write the plays of Shakespeare. This of course is nonsense; any fool knows our simian friend could only manage the sonnets....

Looking beyond the immediate headline, is proof to be had in an army of chimps sitting at myriad typewriters (good luck finding that many working machines.), or is it an extremely long-lived individual?

If the former, it's not sporting to substitute the machines for PCs. After all, is it fair in the trial to expect the chimp(s) to not only apply themselves to the random tap-tapping of language symbols into Art, but to deal with a mouse, and spam emails, as well? If the latter, then we must assume too that the individual animals although long-lived and under the best medical supervision, must like us succumb to the challenges of chronology.

On an external wall of an overpass on a road between London leading towards the M3, some wag has painted, "Give Peas a Chance". Now, it might be that this particular graffito is the result of the English education system and that the painter simply can't spell. Conversely, it might be that the painter is a savvy sort in touch with his cultural heritage who also knows a good pun when he sees one.

I prefer to imagine a chimp, escaping one night from a nearby holding facility (As he fled through the side door, behind him the faint sound of typewriter keys searching for Shakespeare.). Slow-moving and grey-bearded, he drags a bucket of paint and a brush along the overpass, then climbs on to the parapet wall. He sits there quietly, contemplating the roar of traffic passing below him.

A grin spreads across his ancient face. He dips his brush purposefully in the paint, and leans into his work. 




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