Can This Black Box See Into the Future? -

RedNova ^ | February 11, 2005

[djf]

You could, if you wanted, use a timing seed. If you execute a million instructions on a machine, time it, then do it again. If you do things right, the times will be slightly different. You could set it up to get random numbers.

[djf]

But remember, when you talk about random numbers, you probably mean "a random number between X and Y"

If I were to arbitrarily pull a truly ramdom number out of my hat, I could probably never write it down, it would have an infinite number of digits.

[pepsi_junkie]

I was in MD with a neighbor getting his truck washed at the very time the first plane hit the WTC... since that happened, we haven't been there to wash that truck again, and no more attacks have happened.. coinsidence?..I don't think so

I had an abscessed tooth for the few days just prior to 9/11 and was in the worst agony of my life. As I pulled up to the dentist I heard over the radio that the attacks had just occurred. This article leads me to believe my agony must have been a sign of the events to come, and because I dont want it to happen again, I'd better keep up my support for the war on terror. Afghanistan okay? Iraq stable? Next: Syria! Iran! If it will keep my teeth from suffering like that I say Keep 'em coming!

[TalBlack]

I just got an email citing sources of randomness, such as lava lamps, radio static etc. Gotta admit those two are pretty random things. I wonder if they would work if you kept the number between and including 1 and 10?

[UnklGene]

An augury?

[wildbill]

Is Red Nova, the origin of this article, a publication like Weekly World News--but with less credibility?

[Phsstpok]

Now THAT is one unhappy kitty.

If that is a picture of your cat, do you sleep at night with any confidence that you are not going to be killed and eaten at the earliest opportunity?

[UnklGene]

Mazda?

[longshadow]

unbelieveable placemarker

[Phsstpok]

I am a science geek of the first order and browse the net continuously. This the first time I've ever heard of REDNOVA.

I have posted on about 15 different threads in the last 24 hours about how paranoid I am, but that I really am afraid that folks may be out there posting crazy junk on FR to make us look silly, so I checked out the original source and did a Google search. So far nothing tells me this isn't a legit web site (though it's only been around since 2003) and I've found nothing saying they are a bunch of cranks.

Still, I ain't investing in anything that is predicted by the "little black box."

However, couple this with the litany of "wierd stuff," like the "chupacabra" found in the southwestern desert recently and you begin to think "the end may just be around the corner."

It's almost as bad as full moon Fridays on welfare weekends when I was driving an ambulance in NY. Where is Fox Muldar when you need him?

[combat_boots]

"life being connected"

Just as Aspen groves are connected, and trees do better in bunches, so do your buddies when they're with you. And your family, well, 'nuf said.

[killjoy]

By the way, there are no true digital random number generator chips. They all must be "seeded" with a number from which to continue to calculate.

Not true. This is only if the chip is using a PRNG for the source. If could easily be using background noise or radioactive decay for the source.

[NRA2BFree]

That will be my luck. Just when I pick the winning number, so will a million other people – and I’ll collect about $1.35.

LOL I know what you mean. I'll probably be one of the other million people holding a winning ticket. :)

[killjoy]

If it is truly random (wonder how that works since the computer had to be programed by someone)than it is conceivable that it will randomly produce a string with a greater number of "heads" than "tails" or vice versa.

Correct. If it is truely random, each 'bit' of information that it produces is unique and is in no way determined by the previous bit. It can be thought of the same as a coin toss. If a coin is flipped and it turns up 'heads' 10 times in a row, there is still only a 50% chance of it coming up 'heads' on the next flip.

Technically, the machine could produce millions of 1s in a row and still be random. Of course it would be highly unlikely, but statistically, it is possible.

[Crawdad]

Did it predict Brody Croyle's knee injury?

[ItsForTheChildren]

I predicted this! ;-)

I knew you were going to do that.

[steve86]

You did a pretty good job recounting that experiment. Like you say, when something seems to be going faster than the speed of light (or) backwards in time, it turns you can't do anything useful with it (unless you have a wormhole at your disposal).

[R. Scott]

Get all excited – until we see what we won.

[all4one]

"P.S. I saw your page; I'm a mech.e also"

I am mainly doing Arch. design now....and I am so busy...I recall a few years back when I would hit a lull in work during the winter...but not for around the last 3 years...I am missing my lull! How about you...are you busy too?

[ConservativeMind]

I stand by my assertion that there are no digital chips that can do this. Getting more legitimate random numbers requires an analog interface with much more additional equipment.

Even ambient noise or radioactivity must be subjected to skew correction, eliminating redundant "00" and "11" episodes:

http://www.random.org/essay.html

http://www.robertnz.net/true_rng.html