Could "luck" increase probability?

[Lubian]

I'm surprised many of you are breaking out on these random philosophical discussions and even thinking that "theoretical physicists" has anything to do with the computer RNG.

Nearly all computer RNGs are Pseudorandom, they're not really random at all. They generate a specific sequence of numbers based on the initial seed. Knowing the seed, you theoretically even know the set of numbers it will generate ahead of time. The initial seed is usually based on the time.

If coded properly, most programs will use the same RNG for everything (or a specific thread), which is what complicates trying to predict the numbers even if you knew the seed, since an unrelated unknown event could eat one of the sequence numbers for what you're trying to predict.

For a lot of systems (I haven't looked at the eqemu random code) there can be flaws or programming mistakes that make it easy to reverse engineer, predict certain situations that are supposed to be 'random', or make certain situations more likely to occur. There are a few open source emus that make this mistake :/.

Hopefully that answers your question about 'luck'.

[rahmani]

Originally Posted by Lubian [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm surprised many of you are breaking out on these random philosophical discussions and even thinking that "theoretical physicists" has anything to do with the computer RNG.

What would a theoretical physicist have to do with RNG? Don't tell my boss I should be generating random numbers for her.

Also, as far as I am concerned - this is the only "random" or unpredictable number generator: HotBits, governed by rules that are epistemologically unknowable.

[astuce999]

Do not try to influence the RNG with luck; that's impossible.

Instead, try only to realize the truth.

There is no spoon!

[Resheph]

I think one of the more common seeds is the clock

[Slave]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one here who has a classical science fiction education.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teela_Brown