Random Number Machine

It doesn’t do anything, until you give it a range it can work with. Pressing the button does nothing.

Techmoan

I'm curious if you tried setting the high number lower than the low number? And if so, what happened? Although, you're still alive, so I assume you didn't.

Michael Jordan

That’s a good idea. I’ll update it.

Techmoan

You should include Nu-Spin and 1978 in the text then some time far in the future someone who knows something about it might get a search engine hit and contact you.

The random component is the button and the human who presses it. If you would replace the button with a solid state relay (PhotoMOS optocoupler) that is controlled by a comparator that compares the AC line voltage to a voltage set by a potentiometer you could actually make the counter stop in a certain area. It would basically become an analog to digital converter. However as a human you are not able to let go of the button at a specific time syncronized to the power line AC. That "flaw" makes it generate random numbers.

Holger P Kleinert

This actually makes me wonder... As far as I understand it, a computer can only generate "pseudorandom" numbers because it still is deterministic and has limited capacity/resolution/computing power. But can anything be *truly* random when it seems that even the universe seems to have some kind of "resolution" (e.g. elementary particles, pre-defined energy levels of atoms etc.) Theoretically, if you knew the whole state of the universe at the moment the Big Bang started, I guess you would be able to predict every future state of the insanely big (but still finite) universe. So is there such a thing as "completely random" or is the best we are ever going to get "random enough for all intents and purposes"?

Stephan Szlosze