WEBVTT - That's So Random (Number Generator) 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.080 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:14.760 Forward Thinking, heys and welcome to Forward Thinking, the podcast 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.439 that looks at the future and says zero zero zero 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.040 zero zero zero one zero zero zero zero zero zero 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:25.680 one one. I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Joe McCormick, and 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:30.680 today I thought we should talk about something really random, 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.040 well not that random, because we were asked to talk 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:37.680 about it. Actually it's fairly predictable. But a sort of 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:43.040 random request came in a user, not a user listener. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.440 We're not some piece of software, not yet, kind of 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:53.560 like one you aren't, Okay, No, our listener, Sean wrote 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.520 into us via email and asked us, how about something 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.600 on random number generators r n G S or pseudo 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.160 random number generators p r n G S or p 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:06.240 png G p r G S and the likes and 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:10.920 what better sources of entropy might be tomorrow. I thought 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.480 this was a great topic because random numbers are a 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.880 fascinating subject that does not get enough love. Yeah, it 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.920 actually ends up being a philosophical discussion, going to the 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.360 point where you're you're starting to question the very meaning 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.680 of the universe, and it sounds like I'm being flippant, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.600 but that is totally true, right, It goes sort of 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:34.200 to the very nature, the base nature of what reality is. Yeah. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.600 So when you get to that, you know, it's saying, like, 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.759 wo how can we make a true random number generator? 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.600 Things get a little little whibbli wobbly and timey. Whymy Yeah? 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.600 So what would it mean for a number to actually 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.200 be random? Hold on? Hold on? I've got some some 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.040 elementary school knowledge to drawn because when I was in 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.920 fifth grade, my classmates I would do something and then 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.000 one of the girls in my class would say, Joe, 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.760 you're so random. So clearly that was it, right you? 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:06.840 You drew upon an infinitely large list of potential behaviors 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:12.360 and picked one with no predetermination of which one that 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.720 would be, and that's what you went with. Well, I 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.680 don't know. I think we can spend the rest of 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.960 this podcast going back and forth about whether or not 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.400 my fifth grade classmates were using the word random correctly. 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:30.720 But random doesn't mean weird, and random doesn't mean what 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:35.200 what would it be? You know? Like bad or pointless? 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.800 That's the thing people often say random to mean pointless. Sure, 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.520 although it does mean unpredictable, and they could have been 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:48.400 talking about the fact that you were behaving unpredictably. You know. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.919 That's another thing, though, If somebody is consistently weird, they're 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.000 not really unpredictable. You can predict what they're going to be, 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.480 which is weird. Well, what depends on what kind of 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.000 weird they're being. I mean, if you're being like Tim 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.919 Burton weird, that all you can predict is that they 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:06.160 will be weird. You cannot necessarily predict each individual weird 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:10.280 action that person takes, so the general behavior might be 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.320 predictable in the sense that this is generally a series 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.400 of unpredictable events. My head hurts. Okay, okay, let's get 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.320 back to numbers so we can do this topic. Right. 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.959 So what would it mean for a number a number 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.280 to truly be random? Well, for talking with computers, this 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:32.320 simplifies things in a huge way because computers understand two 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:36.200 numbers zero and one, right, that's a bit okay, So 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:41.440 which one's random is zero? Okay, you're not exactly all right? 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:47.760 Have you ever watched an American football game, Joe, I 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:50.600 believe I've heard of this. Yeah, at the beginning of 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.840 an American football game, the referee will toss a coin 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.160 into the air and allow one side to pick either 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.800 heads or tails, which will then allow that side to 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.960 determine whether they will kick off or receive the football. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:09.560 Should there called sign land face up. If it's, of course, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.200 the other one, then the other team gets to make 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.279 that choice. But the determination is random. It's determined by 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.320 an act of chance the the side of the coin 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.360 that ends up facing up right. Right. So the thing 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.920 about this is maybe if we flipped a coin ten 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.279 million times, we might find out that a coin flip 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.200 is not actually random. Well, you would have to flip 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.440 the coin a huge number of times and start to 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.520 look at it and say how far does this deviate 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:43.200 from and does that in fact suggest that there's something 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.720 strange about the coin that is causing it to come 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.400 up on one side more frequently than the other. Right, 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:53.760 But it's at least random enough, right, It's unpredictable that 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.159 somebody couldn't bank on heads or tails and come out 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.680 right most of the time. Right. So a true random 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.960 bit generator which would only be able to generate a 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.520 zero or a one, would do so, uh, and you 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:12.160 would be unable to have a greater than fifties probability 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.080 of predicting whatever the next bit generated was going to be. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.520 So in other words, no matter how many bits have 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.880 been generated in the past, even if you knew every 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:21.760 single one of those, like you had a record, you 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.680 have maybe a binder filled with zeros and ones that 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.039 tell you every single bit this thing is generated in 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.240 the past, you would not be able to use that 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.720 information to guess what the next bit would be because 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:37.880 every single time it generates something would be independent and unpredictable. 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.480 All right, So let's if you do have a true 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.919 random bit generator, then you are able to create these 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.880 bits without being able to determine ahead of time which 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.320 one it's going to be. It's unpredictable, it's truly random. 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.800 So computers are not very good at that. But we'll 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.120 get into that. But let's say that you harvest a 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.560 series of bits from a random source, all right. Now, 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.800 some of those bits may actually be guessable because they 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:08.200 might be dependent upon other bits. So if you, for example, 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:10.800 have a zero or a one, and you could not 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:12.840 predict whether that was going to be a zero or 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.920 a one, but an adjacent bit if you know if 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:17.840 the first bit of zero, it's always also going to 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.479 be a zero. Like if you know that, then suddenly 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:24.400 you have a little less randomness in that number because 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.760 it's dependent upon the value of an earlier bit. So 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.760 the if you add up all the ones that are 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:37.120 truly unguessable the bits within that numeral that you have, 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:39.720 and you add up all the ones that are truly 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:44.800 impossible to predict, that ends up being entropy. That's what 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.440 we call entropy in this instance. Entropy in general means 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.160 something else in physics, but in this case, that's what 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.120 entropy is referring to. It sort of makes sense. The 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.880 use of that term entropy is in a closed system, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.600 when everything tends towards chaos, Yeah, things break down, order 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:06.400 breaks down, and and chaos is a form of predictability definitely. Sure. Yeah, 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.000 like physics heat right, Yeah, at least chaos and at 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.640 any rate, chaos ends up being complexity, which for humans 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:20.320 tends to go towards unpredictability, although technically complexity and unpredictability 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:22.760 are two separate things. If you have a computer system 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:28.240 complex enough and powerful enough that that complexity within a 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.120 chaolic system could potentially be predictable. But we'll get into 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.040 that too. Well, that is what we need to talk 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.320 about now, because I'm sure y'all have all used a 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.600 computer program at some point a few times that gives 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.760 you that gives you some kind of outcome that's based 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:47.480 on a random number what should be considered a random number. 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:50.040 But most of the time when you've done that, I 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.920 bet that it has not been a true random number, 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.760 but what we would call a pseudo random number. So 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.560 it's random enough, it's ran him enough that it generally 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.400 works for things that are low stakes, it can fill in. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.280 Let's say you're playing a computer game and it's something 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:09.760 that calls for some random element to be like the 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.120 dice roll for hit points on a on an RPG 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:17.840 game or something. It can do that fine, But when 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:22.640 you think about it, how could it actually be truly random? 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:27.360 Because computers are deterministic machines. Every event in the computer 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.720 unless there's some kind of like physical error that's introduced 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.520 by the outside, unless there's some kind of error that's 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.079 caused by I don't know, quantum tunneling or something like that, 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:43.400 just some mechanical or electrical failure, But everything that happens 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:48.080 as it should is deterministic. It's controlled by instructions based 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.920 on what has come before, right, specific instructions that people 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.600 have written that it's just following. So how would you 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.840 tell a computer come up with a random number? If 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.600 if you're a computer, the way you answer that is, okay, 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:04.120 what random number should I use? Yeah? So essentially what 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.080 you have to do is you have to build in 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.240 some form of algorithm that's a set of instructions. Algorithm 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.200 is essentially just a fancy word for saying instructions, And 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:17.720 those instructions would be to take some form of input, uh, normally, 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.600 apply some series of calculations to that input, and then 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.760 the output is your random number. Right, so your input 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:30.360 should be at least somewhat changeable, something you know, beyond 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:34.080 just the string of four digits. That clearly wouldn't work 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.120 because it would always the outcome would always be the same. Right, 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.560 So you might sample something like the time. Yeah, the 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:42.720 time of day in fact, is a very common one 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:47.600 for simple random number generation or pseudo random number generation. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.960 So that you send in a command, it takes note 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.400 of the time stamp like the date and time, exact 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.400 time that you said, do this thing, converts that into 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.319 the seed that's the number that will be fed through 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.559 the algorithm or formula, and then you get the output, 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.800 the actual quote unquote random number, which is not truly random. Again, 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.880 it's dependent upon the time that you sent the command 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.200 and whatever that series of steps happen to be. And 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:17.839 it might be that that's a lot of steps, it 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.839 might be very simple. It might be multiply uh, the 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.800 seed by this number and then subtract this other number 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.680 from it, and whatever is left that is your random number. 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.240 But it's important to remember that the pseudo random tree 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:36.719 always does grow from the seed, so it's entirely dependent 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.400 on what the seed is. Yes, and if the seed 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.680 is not random, then the final output can't in a 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.680 mathematical sense, be said to be truly random. Well, yeah, 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.840 and we often in discussions of random number generators you 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.720 will often see the term attacker because a lot of 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.960 random number generation centers around security and cryptography and incredi 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:03.920 option and it's very important in those fields. And in 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.800 those fields you might have a potential attacker, someone who 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.760 is looking to to to exploit a vulnerability or infiltrate 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:16.160 a system in some way, and so the the robustness 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.720 of your random number generator is very important because if 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.240 it's not robust, if you can start to see a 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.560 pattern or you're able to predict what that next number is, 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.480 then your security is compromised. Right, someone could actually end 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.960 up posing as a valid user and uh compromise the system. Sure, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.920 we can talk more about the purposes and uses of 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.880 random numbers in a minute, but finish making the distinction 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.079 between random numbers and pseudo random numbers. Yeah, so a 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.440 true random number has to be unpredictable, which, again, computer 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.719 is not good at doing that because they have to 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:55.840 follow some sort of set of instructions. So true random 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.360 number generators tend to be such a thing as possible 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.480 by the way, Right, we'll get to the philosophy again later, 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.959 But true random numbers tend to be based on hardware approaches. 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.640 So a very simple true random number generator would be 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:16.360 a good classic one would be dice, Right, because all 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.280 things being equal, assuming there's nothing wrong with the dice, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.240 any roll of the dice is just as likely to 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.240 bring up one side versus any of the other sides, 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.880 So it is a random event. You cannot predict which 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:31.839 number is going to come up next. Right, Even even 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.520 if you were to roll a die thirty times in 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:36.880 a row, you wouldn't be able to predict what the 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.319 thirty first role would give you, unless again, something was 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.200 wrong with the dice. Sure, I mean, you know we're 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.559 kind of talking about and all of this comes back 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.160 to the problem of of we're talking hypotheticals and a 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.080 perfect universe where the table is perfect and the dice 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.000 are perfect, and the person throwing the dice is perfect, 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.840 and none of this is influencing the outcome, which of 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.120 course it does. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:00.440 ran an experiment, or if you could, if you ran 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.199 an experiment where you had somebody roll a die ten 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.520 billion times, I suspect you would find that some sides 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.040 of that die are actually more likely to come out 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.200 on top than others. Again, it all depends upon the 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.680 construction of the die, right, because if the die is 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.319 truly los as close to perfect as possible, then you 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:22.800 shouldn't have any any bias there. But so another thing 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.240 you need to remember is a good pseudo random number generator, 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:29.360 it will not have a repetitive cycle, although they all do. 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.840 It's just the cycles tend to be very, very very long. 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:36.720 So that uh two we mirror mortals, it appears like 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.880 it never repeats. Um, they should have really good numeric distribution, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.760 which means it shouldn't favor any one number over any 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.880 other number. You should have an equal distribution amongst them. Uh. 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.040 And it shouldn't be predictable, obviously, because if it is, 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.600 that it's not really useful. True random number generators are 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:58.480 slow and inefficient, so that's why we don't tend to 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.640 use them for really complex tasks, especially tasks where you 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.320 have to generate a lot of random numbers in a 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:10.320 short amount of time. Uh So the advantage though, is 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:14.439 that they're nondeterministic and they're a periodic, so they don't repeat, 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.800 and there's nothing that you can you know, you can't 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:21.760 you can't predict the outcome because they're nondeterministic. Pseudo random 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:26.600 numbers are deterministic and periodic, but they are also way 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.960 more efficient, so it's easier to generate a lot of 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:30.560 them in a short amount of time. And if you 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.200 make a strong enough, a robust enough system, despite the 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.400 fact that they're deterministic and periodic, they can still be 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:42.920 largely unpredictable. Right there. Uh, they're so big. Basically, there's 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.440 so much brain power involved in predicting them that they 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:50.160 can be effectively thought of as random. Right. The goal 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:52.720 is that you have to make it complex enough where 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:55.880 a brute force attack, which is where you would just 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:00.840 start going with, every potential answer for the problem could be, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.080 you know, used one at a time. Right, you do 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:07.720 that thing where you throw ten million or ten billions 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:11.840 exactly if you can make that random, that pseudo random 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.000 number large enough so that the effort it would take 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.320 to successfully get a brute force attack to work is 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.320 greater than what most people have at their disposal. Your 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.160 system is generally thought of to be pretty safe. So, 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.200 in other words, let's say that it's the Hollywood version 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.320 of hacking where you use a joystick. None. None of 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.200 those systems are very safe. Yeah, it's your first you've 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:36.480 got to get some eyeliner, or or your password is 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.080 five letters long, it's all upper case and it's just 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.000 sword or something like that, and that's that gets you 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:46.320 into the system. Uh yeah, that would those those security 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:52.560 systems would fail dramatically compared to what we're talking about here. Okay, 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:56.680 so we have computers that work as pseudo random number generators. 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.480 They're they're random enough even if they're not true random. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:04.240 Then we have some other ways of maybe creating something 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.360 that might be thought of as truly random. We can 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.680 debate and talk about those later, But first, why do 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.960 we need random numbers? Like, what's the point other than 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.040 you know, if we've got pseudo random number generators that 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.400 are good enough. I mean, why do we actually have 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.800 to come close as possible to true randomness. Well, if 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.800 you want to play a chaotic neutral character in Dungeons 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.520 and Dragons, you want to get as close to truly 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:35.920 random as possible because that's what that's what dictates their hearts. UH. 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.560 To be more serious, you would want random numbers, really 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.640 good random numbers, for lots of different purposes. One is 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:47.000 UH sampling, So sampling populations. Now this can mean anything, 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:50.000 not just sampling populations of people, but for all sorts 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:54.560 of types of of of scientific inquiry. But one real 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.440 life example I can point to is imagine that you 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.680 are at t S a secure pity agent, and your 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:06.080 job is to stop a random stop random people for 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.160 screening at the airport, and you're not supposed to act 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.040 on any bias. Right, You're not supposed to stop people 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.920 because of the way they look or anything along those lines. 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.760 What your what your directive is, you're stopping a random person, 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.800 and if you truly wanted to be random, you would 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.400 need to have this kind of generator that would tell 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.120 you the seventh person to go through this. This line 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:30.800 is the one you stop the next time it says 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.280 the second person, next time it says the forty seventh person, 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.920 and you would just follow that instead of acting upon 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.800 your own quote unquote, Oh, I'm going to stop this 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.480 person because now it's time for me to do another 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:47.679 random search. Something that goes along with sampling, though, is 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:52.800 actually something that might be useful in science, which is simulation. Yeah, 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:57.040 I mean in simulating trials and real world events. If 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:59.920 you're going to try to run an experiment on your 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.159 computer instead of in real life, it's very important to 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.520 be able to have random inputs. Sure, even if you 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:11.000 are incorporating a human into the testing. So let's say 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:14.960 it's a simulation where you are simulating it's like a 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.960 test pilot simulating a simulated flight where you're simulating weather 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.480 patterns as well. Clearly you want those weather patterns to 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:27.000 be as random, but still, you know, still akin to 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.920 actual weather, realistic right, because otherwise what could happen is 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.719 the test pilot goes through the system, perhaps things go 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.600 poorly and the test pilot ends up crashing the simulated plane, 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:40.560 and then the test pilot is told to go through 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.960 it again after some adjustments have been made. But now 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.719 the test pilot knows that pattern. So if the pattern 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.719 was exactly the same, you wouldn't be sure that whatever 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.919 changes you made were actually the things that affected the 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:58.240 outcome of the simulation. You need that randomness so that 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:02.400 you can ensure that the thing you are actually testing matter. Yeah, 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:04.280 you don't want the pilot to be able to just 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:08.159 like memorize, like like she's playing Battle Toads or something 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.119 where you know, yeah, here's where the crossmen come three 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.320 times and then down, yeah, and then it's the goomba 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:17.679 and then right as a that's a heck of a 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.919 mixed of video game. I mean, it would make Battletoads 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:25.399 a lot easier. Honestly, goombas were the enemies, but the uh, 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:27.760 you know another example. And you know, it sounds like 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:29.480 I'm being kind of trivial with these, but these are 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:34.400 really true. Gambling is important. It sounds trivial now if 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.360 you're a gambler. I'm sure it's not trivial at all, 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.000 because you you definitely you're counting on the fact that 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.720 the numbers that are coming out of the system are 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:47.680 truly random. If there is a bias somehow, I suspect 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:49.720 if there were a bias, it would be a bias 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.680 toward the house. I can't say for sure, but yeah, 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:57.160 who knows, well it matters. Very cynical, Joe. But let's 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:01.840 say it's a game of craps. Now, with craps, there 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.760 are a lot of different ways to bet, So your 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.399 bet is what is gonna matter, not not whether or 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:11.000 not certain numbers come up more frequently frequently than others. 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.560 Because if you know notice that certain numbers are coming 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:15.720 up more frequently than others, you can place your bets 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:20.439 toward that to try and win, which would give the 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:23.720 incident to the house to change out those dice immediately, 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.440 because otherwise they're going to start losing money if people 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:31.359 pick up on that. So it depending upon the game. 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:33.560 It can really be in the house's interest to make 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:35.800 sure that this game is working exactly the way it's 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:40.400 supposed to and things like have a house advantage. Sure, yeah, 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.600 things like slot machines. I did a full episode on 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:45.760 slot machines for tech Stuff where we talked about the 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:50.159 various elements that introduce kind of, uh, the randomness in 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.840 slot machines to make them attractive to people who want 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.159 to gamble. And in fact, over the lifetime of a 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.640 slot machine, most slot machines, and they guess pay out 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.480 somewhere between ninety and nine of all the money that 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.960 go into over the lifetime of the machine. On a 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.240 day to day basis, that is not the case. So 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.040 you've got to keep in mind this is a long 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:16.960 game you're talking about. But but randomness is important in 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:19.280 that in that realm too. It's not like there's a 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.680 series of mechanical gears in that slot machine that get 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:24.920 that tells you whether or not you're going to win. 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:28.800 It's actually more based upon the moment that you hit 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.640 the button or pull the lever to initiate it. It's 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.240 more of that time stamp approach we talked about earlier 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:37.159 in the podcast. But of course, another big use and 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:41.080 the main one we alluded to earlier, is cryptography in 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:45.800 keeping things secret and keeping them safe. Yeah, pretty much nice? 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:49.720 Is it secret? Is it safe? The yeah, this is 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:52.480 a big one. So this can be for anything, right, 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.960 not just not just the super secure stuff you want 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:59.800 like banking or or purchases. But anytime you log into 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:04.119 any kind of web service where you're you're actually you know, 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.960 you're logging in as yourself, you are assigned a unique 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.440 I D for the duration of your visit to that website. 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:14.520 It's how the server knows that this is you, even 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.159 if you are navigating around the various site to the 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.520 various pages within it. If you're logged in and knows, oh, well, 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:23.560 this is Jonathan, or this is Lauren, or this is Joe, 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:25.720 and it doesn't mix us up because we each have 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:30.160 a unique identifier. Now, if whatever they're using to generate 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.920 those unique identifiers is in fact predictable, it could allow 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.800 an attacker to come in and if they have enough information, 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.680 be able to guess at the unique ID of any 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:44.359 one of the three of us and pose as us, 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:46.720 which could be disastrous in the case of something like 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:50.280 a bank account where they suddenly have access to all 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:53.520 of our online banking stuff, that could be a huge problem. 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:56.919 So you need to have a really robust system for 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.920 generating random numbers to create these unique ideas. Now that's 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:04.159 just one example. It is all over the place in cryptography. 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:07.200 So all all of these are important reasons for us 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:11.320 to have random numbers or pseudo random numbers at the 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:14.720 very least. But how how have we dealt with actually 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:18.720 creating these in in the past and right now? Well, 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:20.400 if we want to look at the past, I think 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:22.960 we've already been talking about one of the big ones, 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:26.560 which is dice, dice, the roulette wheel, all kinds. They're 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:32.719