These random number generators have been given a specific name in computer science: random number generators of cryptographic quality. This means a random number generator that is so good that no other bit of software can predict the future random numbers it will generate. What is interesting about these random number generators from Einstein's perspective is that they show that it is possible to build random number generators that appear to be totally random even though they actually operate in a deterministic manner. In addition, the triumph of the late 20th century was the creation of totally deterministic machines: namely, computers, built from noisy electronics. Thus, we see that it is possible to construct totally deterministic machines out of components that have many random elements.

This was captured in poetry in the early 20th century by Lord Dunsany at the very beginning of "The Gods of Pegana":

In the mists before the Beginning, Fate and Chance cast lots to decide whose the Game should be; and he that won strode through the mists to Mana-Yood-Sushai and said: "Now make gods for Me, for I have won the cast and the Game is to be Mine." Who it was that won the cast, and whether it was Fate or whether Chance that went through the mists before the Beginning to Mana-Yood-Sushai -- none knoweth.

Given the mathematical recognition in the late 20th century that not all natural phenomena are predictable even if only because we cannot know the initial conditions precisely enough, an argument against Einstein's position is that Lord Dunsany's suggestion actually represents the best scientific thinking of the late 20th century and this is not likely to be changed until late into the 21st century at the earliest. We now know that a layer of abstraction in physics could appear to be deterministic while in fact being built of non-deterministic elements, but we also know that an abstraction in physics that appears to be non-deterministic might, in fact, be built on a layer that is completely deterministic. Physicists have not fully appreciated the truth of these statements, and so general thought among physicists today is that there exist significant non-deterministic elements in the fundamental laws of physics. As a philosopher who is less caught up in the discoveries of this decade, however, I believe my perspective that this issue is currently unknown more accurately reflects the state of knowledge that is appropriate for the non-physicist who is not actively involved in moving the investigation forward.