Probems with Random Numbers

A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE...?
Boundary Institute

http://www.boundaryinstitute.org/randomness.htm

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 have deeply
shocked the entire world. But perhaps their influence
propagates even more deeply than we imagine, even into
the fabric of reality itself, perhaps even into events
prior to their occurrence. In popular culture, this
might be called a "disturbance in the Force", but new
and innovative science may have something much more
serious to say about the matter.

Since 1998, the Global Consciousness Project at
Princeton University has been monitoring the outputs of
up to 40 random number generators (RNGs) around the
world. Each of these RNGs sends 200 bits of randomly
generated data every second to a server at the GCP in
Princeton. The generators are based on physical devices
considered fundamentally random, not merely
deterministic computer algorithms.

Preposterous though it may sound, significant
deviations have been noted in the randomness of data
from these RNGs around times of major events in the
world.

Roger Nelson, Director of the GCP, and Dean Radin at
the Institute of Noetic Sciences have analyzed data
from the RNG network on and around September 11. They
found striking anomalies, one of which is shown below.
Note that the significant deviation from randomness
began several hours before the events in New York and
Washington. See the GCP web site
<http://noosphere.princeton.edu/> for complete
information and extensive statistical analyses of the
data before, during, and after these events.

Randomness and Causality

Why is this of interest to us at the Boundary
Institute? Because our theoretical and experimental
work have focused specifically and significantly on the
concepts of randomness and causality in physics. Our
theoretical work strongly suggests, and we have been
saying for some time, that certain random physical
processes (such as the mysterious "collapse" of the
wave function in quantum mechanics) are not what they
seem, and in fact may be dependent on other factors and
thus influenceable at a fundamental level. And contrary
to common assumption, these phenomena and new theory
are not in major conflict with existing physics. A
great deal of experimental evidence tends to support
the hypothesis as well. Now far more significant events
seem to have registered in random devices all over the
globe.

We do not know whether the effect shown in these
analyses will hold up under further scrutiny. We do not
necessarily subscribe to the hypotheses which the GCP
or anyone else has put forth to explain them. In any
case, anecdotal one-time occurrences, no matter how
dramatic, are no substitute for careful scientific
investigation and experimental replication. However, at
the very least, this apparent deviation in the
randomness of physical devices under certain conditions
needs to be analyzed further and studied closely by
science.

In a similar vein, claims that the number of passengers
on the hijacked planes on September 11 was
exceptionally low (even for a Tuesday after Labor Day,
during an economic downturn, etc.) need careful
examination. This may be a simple statistical fluke, or
it may be that passengers somehow precognitively
avoided the doomed flights.

If the randomness of fundamental physical processes can
be influenced by global events, the implications for
both science and society could be very large indeed. As
just one example (highly speculative to be sure), if
these effects are real, it might be possible to predict
some large-scale calamities in advance by careful
observation of random devices such as the generators of
the GCP.

Such speculations are easy to make, of course. But only
by looking hard at this data and bringing to bear the
full power of science will we eventually find out what
really happened to the random number generators on
September 11.

If you have any scientific comment, observation, or
premonition to share with us on this subject, please
email <randomness@...>. We will keep
confidential any such communication, but cannot promise
to respond to every email.