3 ms·
Unlike the "pseudo-random" number generators used in software everywhere, here we have a truly "random" number generator (at least with our current understandin
by Calamity 7y ago
Unlike the "pseudo-random" number generators used in software everywhere, here we have a truly "random" number generator (at least with our current understanding of physics).
Impossible to predict the next number - no matter how much information about the universe you know.
- bcaa7f3a8bbc 7y agoIf someone is building this device to protect one's private keys from the three-letter agencies, one may want to completely shield the Geiger counter and its radiation source with thick lead. Otherwise, the NSA may decide to remotely influence the behavior of the random number generator by beaming lethal level of gamma radiation toward the generator, and they would not care whether you are killed in this process. /joke
- pwnmonkey 7y agoDoes this mean determinism is moot?
- EsssM7QVMehFPAs 7y agoIn quantum mechanics, yes it is. See Bell's theorem.
- officialjunk 7y agoAnd folks like Einstein felt quantum mechanics is an incomplete theory because of this. It is not an settled debate.
- Calamity 7y agoIn my mind, Schrödinger's cat was an important thought experiment that pointed strongly in this direction. Whether it is just a limitation stemming from our current knowledge of physics or something else is still debatable.
- the8472 7y agoMost modern systems contain hardware RNGs that get noise from thermal effects, ultimately quantum too.
- frutiger 7y agoThermal effects do not rely on quantum behaviour. They arise from an extremely large but classically deterministic state space.