That said, that doesn’t at all mean that coin flips are quantum random. If all of those decoherent branches end up as heads, well, it’s going to be heads.
Yes, and taking this train of thought further, you realize that a clear distinction cannot be made; it’s a continuum.
Everything in the Universe is ‘quantum random’, to some extent. Even a perfectly predictable pseudo-random number generator on a computer that always outputs the same sequence of numbers with the same seed. This is because there is a non-zero probability of quantum fluctuations spontaneously causing some of the bits in the generator to flip, creating an unexpected sequence. Of course, computers have multiple mechanisms for preventing this sort of thing (error correction, etc.) but there is a non-zero probability that the bits will flip in precisely the right pattern to evade those mechanisms. The fact that this usually doesn’t happen is just one possibility among a sea of possibilities, albeit by far the most likely one. By using a pseudorandom number generator, you are accepting a small (very small) amount of non-deterministic randomness.
Yes, and taking this train of thought further, you realize that a clear distinction cannot be made; it’s a continuum.
Everything in the Universe is ‘quantum random’, to some extent. Even a perfectly predictable pseudo-random number generator on a computer that always outputs the same sequence of numbers with the same seed. This is because there is a non-zero probability of quantum fluctuations spontaneously causing some of the bits in the generator to flip, creating an unexpected sequence. Of course, computers have multiple mechanisms for preventing this sort of thing (error correction, etc.) but there is a non-zero probability that the bits will flip in precisely the right pattern to evade those mechanisms. The fact that this usually doesn’t happen is just one possibility among a sea of possibilities, albeit by far the most likely one. By using a pseudorandom number generator, you are accepting a small (very small) amount of non-deterministic randomness.