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Researchers Devise a Way To Generate Provably Random Numbers Using Quantum Mechanics (newatlas.com)

No random number generator you've ever used is truly, provably random. Until now, that is. Researchers have used an experiment developed to test quantum mechanics to generate demonstrably random numbers, which could come in handy for encryption. From a report: The method uses photons to generate a string of random ones and zeros, and leans on the laws of physics to prove that these strings are truly random, rather than merely posing as random. The researchers say their work could improve digital security and cryptography. The challenge for existing random number generators is not only creating truly random numbers, but proving that those numbers are random. "It's hard to guarantee that a given classical source is really unpredictable," says Peter Bierhorst, a mathematician at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where this research took place. "Our quantum source and protocol is like a fail-safe. We're sure that no one can predict our numbers." For example, random number algorithms often rely on a source of data which may ultimately prove predictable, such as atmospheric noise. And however complex the algorithm, it's still applying consistent rules. Despite these potential imperfections, these methods are relied on in the day-to-day encryption of data. This team's method, however, makes use of the properties of quantum mechanics, or what Einstein described as "spooky action at a distance." Further reading: Wired, LiveScience, and CNET.

4 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    int getRandomNumber()
    {
        return 1; // chosen from random post number
    }

    1. Re:First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Obligatory Dilbert: http://dilbert.com/strip/2001-...

  2. Nice try "researchers" by CajunArson · · Score: 4, Funny

    You're not fooling me. It's well known that the NSA incorporated backdoors into the fabric of the universe when they subverted the big bang.

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
  3. Re:I knew it by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 3, Funny

    So we do have free will after all.

    Nope, the multiverse is most likely correct. The big bang never stopped, it just went interdimensional and time itself is an illusion caused by the patterns which emerge when tracing a path along one of all potential possibilities. The interference pattern and statistical interpretation of it is just the probability that a particle you observe on your worldline goes in a particular direction at a particular velocity, but all of those possibilities are traced out on different worldlines. There's a reality where you're a supervillan and a reality where you're the richest person in the world, and then there's most realities where you're neither - each of those realities are practically infinite and expanding forward and backward in time in their derivations, but the likelihood you perceive one of the abnormal ones is significantly reduced. You probably can't picture yourself as a serial killer or helping people to the point you are literally made into a saint, but both exist somewhere in the multiverse. All your choices are irrelevant because they all happen.