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Article #8352random vs. ran(seed) (RE: choice, will, etc. etc.)
From: silber
Date: Fri, 26 May 1989 16:36
Date: Fri, 26 May 1989 16:36
10 lines
1062 bytes
1062 bytes
Let 'random sequence' (:== a sequence whose observable characteristics correspond to the observable characteristics of a sequence of physical events which we identify as 'random'. If we KNOW that the sequence was generated by an 'algorithm', then it is PSEUDO-random. However, the sequence corresponding to the motivating physical phenomenon (whose pattern cannot be generated by any algorithm known to us) is of a different epistemological order, viz. 'RANDOM'. We can never transcend the realm of partial knowledge, and even if we believe that on some ultimate scale everything is pseudo-random, we can't prove it. so 'free-will' vs. 'determinism' is just a matter of aesthetics!
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ucsbcsl!silber@sbphy.ucsb.edu From: silber@sbphy.ucsb.edu Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: random vs. ran(seed) (RE: choice, will, etc. etc.) Message-ID: <1862@hub.ucsb.edu> Date: 26 May 89 16:36:57 GMT Sender: news@hub.ucsb.edu Organization: UC, Santa Barbara. Physics Computer Services Lines: 10