Is randomness truly random?

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This is a string of random numbers generated by Google. Random numbers are immensely useful and can be found all around us. See that little padlock on top of your browser beside the URL? That indicates your connection is safe and encrypted. And encryption needs large strings of random numbers. 

Believe it or not, random numbers are really hard to generate. We cannot just sit down and start writing random numbers. That's because our stupid monkey brains use the digit 1 way too often and almost forget about 5. 

See the random number at the start of this article? That's not exactly random too. That is because it was generated by a computer, which uses an algorithm for this. If we can find out the code used to generate these numbers, we can predict what number will come next. In fact, that's what a Russian did, who reverse-engineered and found the algorithm of several casinos and made millions from it. That's why googling random numbers does not work for most purposes. These are called Pseudo-Random numbers, which can be predicted if you know the algorithm.

Truly random numbers have to be based on physical random events, like radioactive decay, atmosphere moisture, and YouTube recommendations. Cloudflare, an encryption company, uses lava lamps in their San Francisco base. They film a wall stacked with lava lamps, and the pixels and static noise of the image are used to generate random numbers. Many other companies use radioactive decay since it cannot be predicted when decay will occur.

You may think, why bother with these complicated processes? Just flip a coin, or roll a dice. That is because these are not truly random. A coin toss may seem random, but we can predict it if we know the dimensions of that coin. For example, an average euro coin will land on heads almost 80% of the time, because one side is heavier than the other. The case is the same with dice. 

Whether something is truly random is more of a philosophical question than a scientific one. In theory, we can observe every one of the lava lamps, calculate all the variables and predict the numbers. but in practice, that is unrealistic. The world is woven from billions of lives, every strand crossing every other. With enough information, the future will be entirely calculable. But that is not the point. In practice, close enough is good enough. 

The truth is, there aren't many truly random things in the universe. If you want truly random numbers, quantum physics is your best bet. Properties of quantum particles are very random. Some of them even attain values just at the moment we observe them. Einstein could not believe this, that God would "play dice with the universe." So, the next time you feel normal or predictable, just imagine that you are made of infinite random quantum particles.