It sounds like an exaggeration, but random number generators (RNGs) run the world. Modern electronic telecomunications don't exist without it, and neither does any form of artificial generation, from pictures to text to video games. Chances are you don't understand it at all, and neither does anyone you know. Lots of people act like they know, like the kinds of people who "predict" the stock market, or lotto numbers. But if you think RNGs are beyond your capacity, give up now, because we're already using quantum RNGs, or QRNGs, and this first article below is like reading another language, while still reading English, a favorite past-time here at Network Address.
Quantum random number generator operates securely and independently of source devices
May 2023, phys.org
Source-device-independent (source-DI) quantum random number generators (QRNGs) -- The random numbers are extracted by a process that measures the arrival time of a photon from a pair of time–energy entangled photons. The time–energy entangled photon pairs are produced from a spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) process.The researchers were able to confirm the security of the scheme by certifying the time–energy entanglement though observation of nonlocal dispersion cancelation. To improve security, they employ a modified entropic uncertainty relation to quantify the randomness, taking into account a well-recognized problem of finite measurement range.
via SPIE International Society for Optics and Photonics, Nanjing University: Ji-Ning Zhang et al, Realization of a source-device-independent quantum random number generator secured by nonlocal dispersion cancellation, Advanced Photonics (2023). DOI: 10.1117/1.AP.5.3.036003
Image credit: Illustration of the uncertainty of Earth's orbit 56 million years ago due to a potential past passage of the Sun-like star HD7977 2.8 million years ago - Nathan A Kaib at Planetary Science Institute - Feb 2024 https://phys.org/news/2024-02-stars-orbital-evolution-earth-planets.html
Better cybersecurity with quantum random number generation based on a perovskite light emitting diode
Sep 2023, phys.org
Probably the worst science article I ever read but QRNGs; Perovskite LED (PeLED) QRNGs.
via Linköping University: Joakim Argillander et al, Quantum random number generation based on a perovskite light emitting diode, Communications Physics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42005-023-01280-3
Further Reading on Random Number Generators:
Random Instantiation Generator, 2021
Reality Engines, 2023
Required Reading - Understanding Randomness by way of Slot Machines and Gambling:
Electronic Drugs and Addiction by Design
And on Procedural Generation, one of the more interesting contemporary applications of RNGs:
No Man's Game, 2022
