jayroe

I have read about using lava lamps and the stray firings of CCDs, but this is a new twist to generating true random information:

Yuzoz draws upon computerized data sets from a variety of space probes that have been observing terrestrial weather, auroral displays, solar flares, the solar wind and even Venusian cloud movements. Manber is hoping that the outer-space angle will add a coolness factor to Yuzoz’s random number generator - which, for what it’s worth, has been certified by Technical Systems Testing.

“We’re the first people to brand a random number generator,” Manber said. “And the value that comes from that has to do with trust, transparency, honesty.”

Source: Random Access to the Stars via webjones

A couple of articles at the MIT News Office caught my eye. Being someone with experience in diverse fields (art, music, computers, education) as well as the father of a 3 year old, I find articles about child development and learning particularly interesting. In Scientists show that children think like scientists, children assume by default that cause-and-effect relationships govern the world as opposed to mysterious, unexplainable forces:

The researchers found that children are conservative about unobserved causes (they don’t always think mysterious things are happening) but would rather accept unobserved causes than accept that things happen at random.

This is a critical area of human development that most people layer seemingly contradictory beliefs about philosophy and religion over. Is it ironic that adults often turn to mysterious explanations when facing the unknown or incomprehensible? Why do those who profess atheism or agnosticism often face outrage and even violent opposition by those who place their faith in mystery rather than cause-and-effect? Out of the mouth of babes, right?

Child’s play is serious study of cause and effect calls for futher study on the reasoning of children. In order to be better at parenting and education,we really need to understand how their cause/effect logic develops through play:

The theory of cause and effect is fundamental to our understanding of the world. However, despite almost universal agreement that children learn about cause and effect through exploratory play, little is known about how children’s play might support accurate causal learning.

Before working in computers, I was a music teacher and moved toward an IT career because I could make two or three times more sitting behind a desk writing software than I could teaching our children how to be good musicians and citizens of the world. Yeah, it’s evil, but hey, I’m a victim of circumstance…

What I hope we learn is a new respect for how abstract and sophisticated kids’ early learning is. It is much more sophisticated than what computers are capable of. It would be nice if people who worked with children got as much respect as people who work with computers.