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More Random Randomness

Posted by timothy on from the pudding-is-like-yogurt dept.

jfleck writes "According to the American Institute of Physics' Physics News Update, Kent State physicist James Gleeson has developed a technique for generating numbers approaching true randomness. His trick is to shine light through a liquid crystal, taking advantage of its turbulence and avoiding the inevitable risk of predictability in deterministic random number number algorithms."

8 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. but but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    wouldnt avoiding predictability be a bit predictable?

  2. Coin flipping by cpeterso · · Score: 2, Funny


    I'm going to build a hardware random number generator which contains an actual coin. Sure, I/O waiting for the device to flip the coin is slow, but the numbers are truly random.

    --
    cpeterso
  3. Why not Tea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    I though the best way to get true random numbers was from watching brownian movement it a cup of tea.

    Anonymous only to avoid "-1 Redundant", I seem to get those when people miss the joke.

  4. in moderation by flux4 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Could this technology be used to moderate slashdot posts, in a manner even more astonishingly random than before?

    I mean, it's obviously in use in story-submission already. May as well be efficient.

  5. Re:The big deal is... by rthille · · Score: 3, Funny

    > requirement for lots of randomness, (which rules out things like [...], or number of NT bluescreens per day)

    Hey, we're looking at Randomness, not infinities here!

    --
    Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
  6. Isn't this kind of a "no duh" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wouldn't the better way to get a random number be to utilize parts of nature? Like say ..

    ((wind speed in Boise,ID) + (Boats currently in NYC harbor) + (cars passed over a certain point on a highway in the last hour)) / ((wind direction in Boise,ID) + (number of packets recieved in 1 second by NIC) + (people currently signed on #debian))

    That to me seems very hard to predict. granted its an algorthm .. but how often would the same number come up?

  7. Re:How random is enough? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Are you sure the universe is deterministic?

    Using complex mathematical algorithms combined with a hope that all of the bad and stupid things that I did weren't really my fault after all, I will say one thing:

    I knew you'd say that.

  8. Or... by popmaker · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of course we could just get a butterfly to flap it's wings a couple of times inside the computer. That oughta do it. :)