entropy tech get entropy installation

what is entropy?

a measurement of randomness in a cryptographic system
a thermodynamic property that predicts that certain spontaneous processes are irreversible or impossible

what is this project?

akademie schloss solitude has been converted into a computer that generates random numbers. a microphone and camera mounted to the roof of the building sense the environment in real time, extracting chaos from the natural world from which to produce so-called 'entropy'

why?

in 2013, edward snowden leaked several documents detailing the depth of U.S. surveillance technology. included in these leaks was a request from the National Security Agency asking Intel to install a "backdoor" on the random number generator (RNG) of intel-based CPUs

regardless of whether or not this was implemented, it prompts the question: who controls our access to 'randomness', and by extension indeterminacy in the realm of computation?

and given the ubiquity of computation, does this mean our access to the indeterminate is essentially limited by states and corporations? it is imperative that we create our own tools to access the indeterminate and provide moments of improbability

any revolutionary act hinges on the notion of indeterminacy, that there exists a possibility outside the set of conventions presented to us

random number generator?

though it might seem esoteric, RNGs are used in almost every aspect of online activity. everything from swiping a credit card to sending a text message relies on your computer's ability to generate a random number. if someone knows the random number used to generate a cryptographic key, breaking the encryption becomes trivial

as a response to compromised RNGs, a niche market has emerged to provide steady streams of random bits. one such service is HotBits, which uses a geiger counter to monitor the completely unpredictable nature of the Cæsium-137 isotope to produce random numbers as a result

entropy.computer is currently offline

how it works

the device on top of Solitude captures audio and video. the camera pointed up at the sky takes photos of clouds and other aerial phenomena. each successive frame of video is compared to the last to create a "difference image" which tracks what has changed.

entropy.computer calculates the amount of difference between frames and outputs a grid of numerical values representing the total RGB color difference for each section of the image. rendered in this color below is the area in the image that has changed. if the difference for any section crosses a threshold (enough change is visible) then a timer is triggered.

borrowing a technique used in random number generation based on nuclear activity, every time a timer is triggered the value of the timer is stored temporarily. once four timers have been triggered, they can be compared in order to produce a "0" or "1" bit.

if the amount of time that elapsed between timer1 and timer2 is greater than the amount of time that elapsed between timer3 and timer4, then output a 0, otherwise output a 1.

the sound of the surrounding environment is also captured via a microphone. similarly, the mic input is checked for changes and if the amplitude crosses a threshold, a timer is started, and so on

the generated bits are output in real time and available for use

get entropy

entropy.computer provides high entropy random bits for use in myriad computational projects

implementation API

the endpoint is https://entropy.computer/get_bits.php?n=1&r=1

n is the number of bits being requested (1-16)

r specifies whether or not the requested bits should be removed from the pool (1 = on, 0 = off). setting this value to 0 should likely only be used in testing

example

$.getJSON('get_bits.php?n=8&r=1", function(jsonData) {
  console.log(jsonData.bits);
});
    

demonstration

the installation

Entropy was installed during the month of June, 2021 at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany. For updates on the project, check www.graysonearle.com