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In response to
"In lieu of a jukebox, I bought a 200 CD changer and filled it. Hit "random" and let it play. Random doesn't seem as random as it should. -- nm"
by
VMan
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That's because 'we' find patterns in what the jukebox just sees as equally random data. -- (edited)
Posted by
JD (aka Jason Dean)
Oct 2 '24, 08:09
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So let's simplify a bit and say that each CD has 10 tracks. So 10 tracks x 200 CDs = 2000 songs.
On a RNG (random number generator) basis, all 2000 songs are created equal so there's a one in 2000 chance for any given song being played. However to our ears tracks 1-10 aren't 'random' but instead they're related by being from the same album.
Now let's further decrease what we perceive as randomness and say there's multiple CD from a single artist in the machine as opposed to 200 CD from 200 artists.
So now there's a chance that the RNG plays track 3 and track 1234 but those tracks happen to be on different albums by the same artist. To the RNG, track 3 and 1234 are about as random as it gets but we hear a pattern cause well, same artist.
And then our crazy brains which see faces in stuff, will link songs cause they were released in same time frame or they're all do wop or gansta rap and then complain about the lack of randomness
This complaint was so prevalent that Apple came up with a setting for iPods that was something like pseudo-random and put in veto rules in the software so if the RNG picked back to back Alanis songs, it rolled again and another choice was made.
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