#csprng — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Lapo Luchini @[email protected] · 2025-08-04 · 22:20 UTC

I get that lava lamps looks cool, I own one too but… seriously?
"The Randomness Crisis Threatening the Internet"?
… in 2025???

(please note that I have nothing particular against this video, this was mainly the straw that breaks the camel's back and finally led me to rant on the interwebs 🤣)

This problem has long been solved for good, and Yarrow in 1999 put a nail in the coffin for most practical purposes, and Fortuna again in 2003 even removed the need for entropy estimation.

#CSPRNG are real. Are here. Are working. They are fundamentally indistinguishable from real #random numbers (#RNG) for every possible purpose.

“Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.” (John Von Neumann, 1951)

This is still a cool quote, but it's just that. Funny. Nice. Interesting from an historical point of view. (and only technically still true, not in any practical way)

#random #csprng #rng