I think the best way to tackle this is to observe that nothing is truly random but that the numbers become large enough to effect perfect randomness which is really another way of invoking mathematical infinity rather than empirical infinity.
Thus we observe the usual debate that only exercises mathematicians.
Much of our software somewhere invokes a random number generator that simply works well enough and will not produce an observable error for the lifetime of this galaxy at the least..
.. .
Is Anything Truly Random or Is There an Underlying Order to Everything?
In Beyond Science, Epoch Times explores research and
accounts related to phenomena and theories that challenge our current
knowledge. We delve into ideas that stimulate the imagination and open
up new possibilities. Share your thoughts with us on these sometimes
controversial topics in the comments section below.
The Dutch
philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) wrote in “Ethics I”: “Nothing in
Nature is random. … A thing appears random only through the
incompleteness of our knowledge.”
In modern physics, certain quantum processes are deemed fundamentally random.
“As we currently understand it,
quantum randomness is true and absolute randomness,” said theoretical
physicist York Dobyns in an email to the Epoch Times. “Nothing in the
universe can predict quantum outcomes except at a statistical level.”
Put simply, things are considered fundamentally fuzzy or
indeterminate in quantum theory. A particle may behave as a wave;
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states that we have a limited ability
to know more than one physical property of a particle (such as position
and momentum) at the same time; radioactive decay is unpredictable, it
results from a particle quantum tunneling into or out of the nucleus.
As far as physicists can tell, quantum mechanics includes true randomness. But Spinoza may still be right.
Uncertain Footing of Quantum Theory’s Uncertainties
Dobyns admitted that it is possible even quantum randomness is not
truly random. If that is so, quantum theory would have to be majorly
reworked.
Physicists expect such a reworking. Quantum theory has major gaps and
scientists are seeking a new major theory to replace or complement it.
Science is torn between classical physics and quantum physics. Each
holds true in certain circumstances, but neither can explain how
everything works.
“Current quantum theory can and will be replaced if a better theory
(one that explains more) can be devised, and a theory that can make
accurate predictions of events that are random according to the current
version of QM [quantum mechanics] would be a great candidate,” Dobyns
said.
If quantum theory is replaced by a so-called “Theory of Everything,”
the idea of randomness may also disappear. No theory that can predict
random quantum events has been proposed, so for now we must assume they
are truly random.
Random Number Generators
Machines called random number generators (RNGs) use the
quantum processes to generate encryption keys for banks. They are also
used as tools for various scientific experiments.
Machines called random number generators (RNGs) use the quantum processes to generate encryption keys for banks.
RNGs have particularly been used in psi (the unknown “psychic” factor
that cannot be explained by known physical and biological mechanisms)
experiments; for example, researchers have used them to test whether a
person could exercise psychokinesis by causing the machine to produce a
pattern instead of randomness.
Dobyns designed and implemented data processing strategies for the
Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab at Princeton
University, where RNGs were often used in psi experiments.
Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, has
also used RNG generators to conduct psi experiments. He explained how
the randomness of RNGs is tested statistically.
RNGs produce random bits. They’re often described as electronic coin-flippers; they randomly produce either a 1 or a zero.
To test the RNG, researchers run tens of millions of bits produced by
the RNG through statistical tests (one such suite of statistical tests
is called Die Hard, developed by mathematician George Marsaglia at
Florida State University). They test the distribution of bits in many
ways, using variables that mathematicians have determined should
indicate if the RNG is behaving randomly.
“If it passes all of the tests, then you say, ‘As best as
we can tell, this is behaving like a true random system,'” Radin said.
“But it’s quite true that you actually never know. Because it could be
that after you’ve tested the 10 million random bits that the next 10
million might all come out the same, or some silly thing like that.”
“You assume that the sample of the tested bits is a fair
representative of the whole population of bits and accurately reflects
how the RNG works,” he said.
Some RNGs use computer algorithms instead of the “noise”
created by quantum processes. These are sufficient for certain uses,
but the resulting sequences are deterministic, and some uses require
truly unpredictable, non-deterministic sequences.
If
you go to an online poker site, for example, and you know the algorithm
and seed, you can write a program that will predict the cards that are
going to be dealt
, MIT
Some RNGs also use thermal or atmospheric noise instead of
defined patterns. But these may still be biased, for example, toward
higher or even (as opposed to odd) numbers. RNGs using quantum processes
are considered the most random.
In addition to banking encryption and psi tests, MIT Computer Science
and Engineering Professor Steve Ward, pointed out another use for true
randomness in a post on the MIT website: “If you go to an online poker site, for example, and you know the algorithm and seed, you can write a program that will predict the cards that are going to be dealt.”
Radin said the encryption keys produced by true RNGs are the best we
can do at present, as confirmed by the mathematics used to test them.
Quantum mechanics appears to provide us with true randomness, for now at
least.
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