Randomness
From Maze
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While the "pseudo" prefix would seem to denigrate this type of randomness as "not really" random, pseudo-randomness is generally acceptable and in fact desirable in many situations. For example, engineers running a computer simulation often need random variables, but they need those random variables to be the same with every run of the simulation; otherwise it is impossible to narrow down what process is actually being modeled. Pseudo random number generators are also highly useful in hashing, since they allow data to be distributed widely but also placed in known locations. Similarly, they are useful in cryptography, where it is vital that sequences be repeatable if (and only if) the initial conditions are known. | While the "pseudo" prefix would seem to denigrate this type of randomness as "not really" random, pseudo-randomness is generally acceptable and in fact desirable in many situations. For example, engineers running a computer simulation often need random variables, but they need those random variables to be the same with every run of the simulation; otherwise it is impossible to narrow down what process is actually being modeled. Pseudo random number generators are also highly useful in hashing, since they allow data to be distributed widely but also placed in known locations. Similarly, they are useful in cryptography, where it is vital that sequences be repeatable if (and only if) the initial conditions are known. | ||
| − | The ''Commodore 64 Users Guide'' introduces the concept of randomness using an example that sidesteps the origins of randomness in computing. There is no mention of the hydrogen bomb, computer-generated literature, or prime numbers. Randomness comes into play in the shape of a game, when it is necessary to, as the manual puts it, "simulate the throw of dice" (p. 48). This example that takes us back to pre-industrial notions of randomness. Yet, centuries ago, Sir Walter Raliegh wrote of a throw of the dice as apocalyptic -- long before Mallarmé assured us that it would not abolish chance: "Dead bones shall then be tumbled up and down, / In every city and in every town." Fortune's wheel and what Paul Auster called ''The Music of Chance'' has long been considered a life and death matter. As 10 PRINT scrolls its playful, pleasing maze pattern upon the screen, there may be the faintest echo of the dead bones of the dice and the random simulation of the hydrogen bomb. And perhaps, as well, there is the transformation of this grim, military use of randomness into a thing of beauty. | + | The ''Commodore 64 Users Guide'' introduces the concept of randomness using an example that sidesteps the origins of randomness in computing. There is no mention of the hydrogen bomb, computer-generated literature, or prime numbers. Randomness comes into play in the shape of a game, when it is necessary to, as the manual puts it, "simulate the throw of dice" (p. 48). This example that takes us back to pre-industrial notions of randomness. Yet, centuries ago, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote of a throw of the dice as apocalyptic -- long before Mallarmé assured us that it would not abolish chance: "Dead bones shall then be tumbled up and down, / In every city and in every town." Fortune's wheel and what Paul Auster called ''The Music of Chance'' has long been considered a life and death matter. As 10 PRINT scrolls its playful, pleasing maze pattern upon the screen, there may be the faintest echo of the dead bones of the dice and the random simulation of the hydrogen bomb. And perhaps, as well, there is the transformation of this grim, military use of randomness into a thing of beauty. |
=== Works Cited === | === Works Cited === | ||
