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.

Comments

Re:I knew it

[mark-t]

Consider that we appear, by most standards of observation, to have at least some measure of what we imagine free will to be, and we generally live our lives as if we were free willed. In fact, if we were not, the expression "free will" would not even mean anything, since it is the very term that we regularly use to describe the appearance of freely made choices. By extension, therefore, if free will did not exist, then it seems apparent that we should not be capable of imagining what we think that actual free will even is.

Therefore, free will exists.

Whether or not the universe is actually deterministic is immaterial to this, because you cannot use any the nature of a deterministic system to predict its own state in a way that the information cab be communicated to an agent within that system that has a potential to affect that state,