Review of Randomness by Mark S
From Maze
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General Comments
This is a very evocative piece, using a spattering of examples to loosely illustrate different meanings of randomness "in the wild." Some of the mini-paragraphs are beautifully written, and they stand in sharp contrast to the more utilitarian, straightforward writing that characterizes the sections on programming and machine code.
As we shape these thoughts into a chapter, we'll need to be systematic, offering a clearer picture of what we're trying to accomplish in this chapter. I can imagine that many of the short, evocative pieces in this section might be combined into an introduction of randomness that would begin the chapter. I wouldn't want to rely solely on more abstract musings about randomness. Pretty quickly, I think, we'll have to move into talking more concretely about randomness.
Some of the material at the end (about the MOS6510 or recalibrating the randomness generator to the sound chip) will be perfect--in an expanded form--toward the end of the randomness chapter.
Proposed Outline
I'd like to suggest a larger framework for the randomness chapter. (Which we should probably title something simple like "Randomness" as opposed to "Random Numbers" (or Rnaodm Nmbeurs), as we'll be talking about more than numbers.)
Caveats
We want to avoid the problem faced by the maze chapter, that is, we shouldn't feel compelled to trace the history of randomness throughout the ages. Several recent books already do this (Bennett, 1998; Ekeland, 1996). While we can give a nod to the overall history of randomness, it'd be most productive to focus on two things: the history of randomness and computing, and the history of randomness and aesthetic design.
Chapter Outline
I. Brief, General Introduction to the Power of Randomness
Quickly, in a paragraph or two, summarize the power of randomness in computational and aesthetic realms.
II. Randomness and Aesthetics, Pre-Computing
The role of randomness in creating patterns and designs, using analog methods of random generation. Burroughs and Cage will figure prominently here, but there are earlier examples, most notably, the 18th century Dominican priest Sebastien Truchet, whose randomly generated Truchet patterns eerily prefigure that pattern produced by 10 PRINT.
III. The emergence of Randomness in Computing
A central element of this section is the work of John von Neumann, who sought to easily create (pseudo-)random numbers for the purposes of conducting computer simulations of the hydrogen bomb. A key point to tease out here is that the first computer-based random number generators were closely connected to the Cold War. In this way, the RND token is a tiny slice of a much larger shared history between war and computers. This connection has been well-traced out in regards to videogames, but the military's connection to something as simple as RND is something too easily glossed over. What's remarkable, in looking over the early papers discussing random number generation from the fifties and sixties, is that all of them were funded by either the military or the Atomic Energy Commission.
IV. The emergence of computational randomness in aesthetic design
An early example of this is a 1960 teleplay "written" by a computer at MIT, and then performed on CBS.
V. The C64 and RND
In this section we finally discuss the RND function in the context of the C64. How the number is actually generated, the reliability of the randomness, and alternative methods of finding randomness within the C64.
We also synthesize some of the previous sections, and discuss the aesthetic qualities of the 10 PRINT pattern in terms of randomness.
A Working Bibliography
Bennett, Deborah. 1998. Randomness. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Ekeland, Ivar. 1996. The Broken Dice, and Other Mathematical Tales of Chance. University of Chicago Press, June 15.
Felder, H. 1968. The GPSS/360 random number generator. In Proceedings of the second conference on Applications of simulations, 21–28.
Green Jr, B. F, J. E. Smith, and L. Klem. 1959. Empirical tests of an additive random number generator. Journal of the ACM (JACM) 6, no. 4: 527–537.
Isida, Masatugu, and Hiroji Ikeda. 1956. Random number generator. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics 8, no. 1 (12): 119-126. doi:10.1007/BF02863577. http://www.springerlink.com/content/02510157q12768k4/.
Knuth, Donald E. 1969. The Art of Computer Programming. Vol. 2. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.
Lord, E. A., and S. Ranganathan. 2006. Truchet tilings and their generalisations. Resonance 11, no. 6 (6): 42-50. doi:10.1007/BF02838881. http://www.springerlink.com/content/w1577r5g78rx2033/.
Neumann, John von. 1961. Various Techniques Used in Connection with Random Digits. In Collected Works: Design of Computers, Theory of Automata and Numerical Analysis, ed. A.H. Taub, 5:768-769. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Pfeiffer, John E. 1962. The thinking machine. Lippincott.
RAND Corporation. 1955. A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates. http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1418/index2.html.
Rotenberg, A. 1960. A new pseudo-random number generator. Journal of the ACM (JACM) 7, no. 1: 75–77.
Smith, Cyril Stanley, and Pauline Boucher. 1987. The Tiling Patterns of Sebastien Truchet and the Topology of Structural Hierarchy. Leonardo 20, no. 4: 373-385.
