Ghost Hunting Tools - Part I

A long time, no posting... I've been very busy lately, but finally got some free time to write here.

This time I'm going to talk about some ghost hunting tools some researchers use, I remembered to write about this when watching a video of a supposed group of Brazilian 'ghost hunters', in particular because of a device they used, a random number generator.

Well, it is not the first time I see someone trying to hunt ghosts with a random number generator, but when does this stupid concept ends? I get totally stupefied when watching someone with a laptop on one hand, and on the other a 'random number generator' and they 'scan' buildings with this, how does some self-proclaimed researcher/hunter does such stupid things? Do at least they know what they are actually doing?



In theory, a hardware based random number generator, as the name says, generate random numbers, then, when connected to a PC, it can analyse the random numbers and tries to get patterns of "non-randomness", and some people believe that when the random number generator starts to loss the "randomness" is because a ghost or spirit is nearby, well... only people that don't know anything at all about electronics can believe such thing!

In hardware level (electronics / informatics) there is NO SUCH THING as RANDOM, the random functions that you use even on your PC with everyday programs are not random at all, they only calculate a "hash" of the current time (in milliseconds), so it looks random, but it is just a mathematical function using the time as argument.
There are also other types of random algorithms, but they all end in not being random at all, there is no such thing as random in electronics. So, the own concept of waving a "random number generator" in the air scanning for ghosts is a complete lack of knowledge of what they are doing, the own concept of 'having' a random number generator connected to a laptop is stupid because the laptop can generate random numbers as do the device! Actually, the device is only a Microcontroller/Processor generating random numbers using a clock-chip as 'food' for the mathematical process.
The only argument that could be used to help defending the random number generator device as a ghost hunting tool, is that is "normal" that paranormal events to have interference with electronics, but if that would interfere with the random numbers, it would have to interfere with the communication with the laptop also, because for that a loose of synchronization of the main oscillator of the processor would be needed, and that would cause a communication failure or lock up.



Even in the middle of such a stupid thing, there lies something that could really be used on ghost hunting, and it can also be used with random numbers, by only doing a 'small' change on the device (that would require to remake the device from scratch actually) that is to feed the mathematical function not with the clock, but with energetic impulses in the air, or other external phenomena. I made such device about 6 / 7 years ago, it ended up being really weird, it was so sensitive that a slightest move of someone nearby a radius of 5 / 6 meters would interfere with it, sometimes even breathing would interfere! But I didn't use random number at all, but yes sound modulation, so it could be leaved on a room, and it would emit constant noise and you could detect when something not-normal was happening only by hearing. I didn't even named this device, but it is very very useful. I already though about making a new version of the device that would also give the opportunity of some ghost to interact with it in a way that would give it the opportunity to 'speak'.

So, in resume, Random number generators are NOT a ghost hunting tool, no matter what some people may think. And energetic impulses in the air are a good thing that can be exploited in the detection, and who knows even communication, with ghosts.

Next time I'm going to talk about some other tools and methods.