From: gts (gts@optexinc.com)
Date: Wed Sep 11 2002 - 16:56:56 MDT
Mike Lorry wrote:
gts wrote:
>> In theory it is possible to get truly random numbers but it requires
>> access to data from quantum processes. For example uranium
>> emits beta particles at genuinely random time intervals.
> Its far simpler than that. You can make your keyboard a random number
> generator. A simple program will time to the nanosecond the amount of
> time between each keystroke while you are typing a given amount of
> text.
Such keystroke generated numbers will usually pass tests for randomness
but they are not genuinely or inherently random.
This is so because you determine your keystroke intervals, even if you
are not conscious of those determinations. Numbers generated by
deterministic processes are not genuinely random.
-gts
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