475
submitted 10 months ago by Stamets@startrek.website to c/memes@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 months ago

It is all based upon calculations with known numbers.

A computer can't create a number out of nothing.

That is why Cloudflare uses lava lamps to generate random numbers for their cryptography. And even those aren't fully random.

[-] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 10 months ago

Modern cpus actually do have trng hardware built in. So yes, modern computers can create numbers out of nothing, because they have specialized hardware to do so

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

No, CloudFlare doesn't use lava lamps to generate random numbers, that was a marketing stunt. Using a camera in a completely dark room is a better source of entropy than one pointed at lava lamps.

Also, nobody is saying that computers create a number out of nothing. The environment is a great source of entropy (temperature fluctuations, user inputs and so on) which are then expanded into a larger amount of entropy through CSPRNGs.

[-] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 months ago

Using a camera in a completely dark room is a better source of entropy than one pointed at lava lamps.

Why is that? Naturally occurring or manufacturing-related impurities in the optical chip?

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

All digital cameras are imperfect - there is always a bit of noise, but usually it doesn't come through since your scene is bright enough to make small amounts of noise imperceptible. In a completely dark room the camera still tries to get data from the photo sensor, but the noise (created by temperature fluctuations, imperfections in the chip itself and so on) is all you get. You may theoretically be able to predict the noise on short time scales, but it's a chaotic system.

this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
475 points (94.1% liked)

memes

9607 readers
2972 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/AdsNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.

Sister communities

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS