Why Computers Can't Generate Random Numbers

Why can't computers generate random numbers? And how do games, music shuffle and encryption work anyway? For almost two years, every encryption key made on Debian and Ubuntu came from a list of only about 32,767 possibilities. We build a random number generator you can run in your head, see why the seed is everything, and find out where real randomness comes from (yes, including the wall of lava lamps). Chapters 0:00 Only 32,767 keys 0:22 Computers are obedient 0:58 How does a computer roll a die? 1:20 A random generator you can run in your head 2:11 The seed 2:34 Real generators: the Mersenne Twister 3:06 Where the seed comes from 3:46 How Netscape's keys were broken 4:01 The Debian bug 4:47 Collecting real randomness 5:22 Cloudflare's lava lamps 5:38 The modern answer 6:04 So… can a computer be random? Sources Debian OpenSSL bug: CVE-2008-0166, Ubuntu security notice USN-612-1 Netscape seed: Goldberg & Wagner, "Randomness and the Netscape Browser", Dr. Dobb's Journal, 1996 Python's Mersenne Twister: Python documentation, "random" module Intel's hardware random number generator: RDRAND Cloudflare's lava lamp wall: Cloudflare Learning Center, "lava lamp encryption" Credits "Backlit keyboard.jpg" by Colin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, colour-graded) "Intel Pentium G2020 Ivy Bridge Die Shot.jpg" by cole8888, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, colour-graded) "Lava lamp wall at Cloudflare office -1.jpg" by HaeB, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped, colour-graded) "Lava lamp (oT) 01 ies.ogv" by Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons adjusted) Other footage and sound effects: CC0 and Mixkit. Narration voice and music: ElevenLabs. #computerscience #randomness #cybersecurity