The Fool wrote:
>
> Here's how you figure out how random something is:
> convert the data to binary numbers in a file and
> then compress that file with some compression
> program. If the compressed file cannot compress
> the file (0% compression) (note compressed file
> will be bigger than uncompressed file), then the
> data is completely random / equivalent the output
> of a good encryption routine.
>
I think this is not what random means. This
might be a good test of randomness, except that
only _deterministic_ processes could generate
output that would _always_ match this criterium.
Let me explain: a random 6-sized die is one that
_will_ generate a sequence of 1 million 6s,
about once every 6^1,000,000 times.
A process that would never fail in that compression
test would never generate such sequence.
Alberto Monteiro
