paradoxes of randomness

[Major Variola (ret)]

At 08:45 AM 8/19/03 -0700, Tim May wrote:
>Only worry about the deep philosophical implications of randomness
>after you have grasped, or grokked, the essence.

Then do this: get a block cipher or crypto-hash algorithm,
and pick a key.  Now encrypt 0, then 1, then 2, etc.  Examine the 17th
bit
of each output as you encrypt the integers.

Is this sequence random? Compressible?  How could you tell whether this
sequence is random or not, if you didn't know the key?

Hint: those are trick questions intended to lure you into
crypto.  And if you ask "why 17?"
you get whacked by a virtual bamboo cane.