does God flip coins — jas0n

Exactly! I can, any intelligent being can, generate true randomness. Imagine I'm sitting behind a screen (you can't see me). On your screen is a virtual coin which you flip. You flip the coin. I manipulate the coin to show heads (1 H). You flip again, I again cause the coin to show heads (2 H). You flip the coin one more time, but now I let the display show tails (1 T). You flip once again, and I manipulate the program to show tails ( 2 T).

You do the math: 2 heads and 2 tails in four flips, a probability of 50% for both outcomes. You tell yourself, the coin flips are random. However, all this time, I've been using an algorithm (make sure that the number of heads = the number of tails on n flips).

Yes, and though statistical tests can be used to suggest fishiness (maybe you accidentally manifest a pattern), they never prove genuine order. A fair coin can come up heads 50 times in a row. Unlikely, but possible....

Yes, and though statistical tests can be used to suggest fishiness (maybe you accidentally manifest a pattern), they never prove genuine order. A fair coin can come up heads 50 times in a row. Unlikely, but possible.... — jas0n

:up: