

Random, but not by chance: A new kind of random number generator - ascuttlefish
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/04/14/random.not.chance

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clayrab
How is this better than existing technology?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_random_number_generato...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_random_number_generator)

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coderdude
The article answers that question, if you had bothered to read it. Current
hardware RNGs rely on Newtonian physics and generate numbers which -- if you
had sufficient knowledge of starting conditions -- you could predict. The
method described in the article uses quantum entanglement to produce
completely unpredictable numbers.

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clayrab
Wow, you're both douchy and wrong. The article doesn't say anything about the
techonology which I linked to. Did YOU "bother to read it"?

The article says that Newtonian physics does not allow any randomness, which
is fairly obvious and has nothing to do with the hardware I'm asking about.

The article also discusses 'pseudo-random number generators', which, I'm
assuming since this is HN, you know are purely software-based.

The Wikipedia page which I linked to, claims that currently used hardware uses
'thermal noise' and 'other quantum phenomena', which you might have realized
"if you had bothered to read it".

If you don't mind now, I was really hoping to learn something about a
technology which I am sincerely interested in.

