Re: Toaster to Generate Random Numbers

From: Guy Macon (02@spamcop.net)
Date: 02/01/03 

From: Guy Macon <guymacon+" http://www.guymacon.com/ "02@spamcop.net>
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 00:53:37 -0800

Carlos Moreno wrote...

>In fact, even more philosophically, some could argue that
>"randomness" does not exist in nature, and that it is only
>a theoretical concept in our minds. Everything is predictable,
>only that there are many things for which we don't have the
>means or the capacity or the knowledge necessary to predict
>it, so we call them "random", "unpredictable".
>
>After all, one could argue that given the *exact* values
>for *all* the phisical parameters (speed, position,
>electrical charge, etc.) of every single particle or point
>of matter one second after the "big bang", then you could
>(theoretically speaking) determine the *exact* state of
>the universe *at any given time* (i.e., position and
>speed of *every* single particle in the universe).
>
>Sad notion, isn't it?

It might be sad if it were true, but it isn't true.

http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p08.htm
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~imamura/208/jan27/hup.html
http://www.mountainlake.com/beyond/complem2.htm

"The more precisely the position is determined, the
less precisely the momentum is known in this instant,
and vice versa."
                                  -Werner Heisenberg

You are confusing "Philosophy" with "Physics I don't understand."

Relevant Pages

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