Randomness and computers

Anyone who works with or codes computers would know that using a type of randomness is important, whether it’s for security, a game that needs to be unpredictable, cryptocurrency or any number of things. But how does this even work?
First things first, computers cannot create true randomness. There are generally two ways that computers use to create a number that appears random. There is debate on whether either of them are truly random, but personally I believe that neither of them are, as both are predictable with good enough data and simulations.

The first and least random type of “randomness” doesn’t even try to make people think that it is truly random — how could it, with the obvious name of pseudorandom? In this pretend randomness, the random key is created at the manufacture of the computer, when someone or another computer literally types in a bunch of numbers randomly. These may either be stored in the computer’s memory and used as is, or, in some cases, the computer will do (secret) things to them to make them seem less random, like performing mathematic operations to them. This is, obviously, not random at all. While pseudorandom numbers are OK in some computer games, they are not used for any type of security purposes.

The second form of randomness is a bit more true. In this form, a key will be generated from outside inputs that are known to be random, or hard to predict. For example, your computer might measure how long after a certain time you pressed a key or did something on your computer, and once again do a bit of maths to it to make it less predictable. Other inputs used might be fan noise, mouse clicks, and even on very advanced computers interactions between atoms (which are thought to be truly random) are sensed and used.

Using this form of randomness is more secure, but to gather the data required for this type, the computer must have inputs and sensors, which are sometimes too needy in power to be mounted onto small devices.

Do we need random? With security we might, but will anyone ever be able to know when these random events will occur? I believe so. As I am a firm believer in mind simulation, which I will talk about in another post, I believe that in the future computers will be able to predict our thoughts and actions like typing on a keyboard.

But then, since computers can’t create random, does random exist? I believe not. Think of the simple experiment of flipping a coin. It appears random, but if we can know how the coin is flipped, we can calculate how it will land using physics principles.

So maybe it doesn’t matter if random doesn’t exist. By the way, you are likely to get more posts on this kind of subject.