From: ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de   
      
   Mike Spencer  wrote or quoted:   
   >As a tech and math amateur, I made a setup to try to extract random   
   >numbers from serial images of a plasma ball taken by a consumer-grade   
   >web cam.   
      
     Even stuff like the current CPU load or the exact time right   
     now adds a bit of "entropy." Plus, my computer here has a   
     microphone input that probably picks up some noise too.   
     I'm guessing you could get roughly evenly distributed values   
     in a certain range by using modulo or XOR operations on that.   
      
     The stats for quantum random numbers can differ from those of   
     classical random numbers - but honestly, asking whether "quantum   
     randomness" or "classical randomness" is the "real randomness"   
     seems kind of pointless to me. Random values for observables are   
     definitely central to quantum physics, though whether the world   
     is fundamentally deterministic or random is still not fully   
     understood! ("Measurement problem in quantum physics").   
      
     Here's something I've posted before in comp.lang.javascript,   
     in :   
      
   |I'd say, a bit source is truly random when the probability   
   |of any party to correctly guess the next bit is 0.5.   
   |   
   |(Possibly interesting in this context:   
   |   
   |"In contrast with software-generated randomness (called   
   |pseudo-randomness), quantum randomness is provable   
   |incomputable, i.e., it is not exactly reproducible by any   
   |algorithm. We provide experimental evidence of incomputability   
   |--- an asymptotic property --- of quantum randomness by   
   |performing finite tests of randomness inspired by algorithmic   
   |information theory."   
   |   
   |arXiv.org > quant-ph > arXiv:1004.1521   
   |   
   |and also   
   |   
   |arXiv:quant-ph/0611029v2   
   |   
   |.)   
      
     .   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)