Statistical Logic

The most recent readings have helped me to understand certain parts of statistical analysis that I had previously not understood. For example, I did not clearly know the difference between accuracy and precision. In addition, I have often mistaken error for being something other than the scientific definition of deviation from the true value.
One topic I did not quite entirely comprehend was how computers generate “pseudo-random” numbers. I quite understand that they generate the numbers in accordance to an algorithm; however, how can a computer select a random number? Computers can only select a number based on what formula is given to them. Thus, if a computer selects a number, there must be some sort of reasoning behind it. The same could be said of the ability of people to select random numbers. A person cannot make a random decision because he must think to make that random decision. If I were to make a list of random numbers, those numbers would not have been random because I had to make up the list and think about it.
Additionally, the normal distribution curve, or Gaussian distribution, makes sense to me in some instances but not in others. Most likely because I studied Gaussian distribution last year in biology class, I can see how it would apply to the biological world. Evolution generally favors those who do not exhibit extreme forms. Thus, there would be a lower presence of the extreme form and a higher presence of the moderate forms. My class exemplified this last year in a lab we did in which we “excavated” trilobites and measured their length. We then discovered that most were found at medium lengths while very few were found at extreme lengths, either short or long. This makes sense when examined logically. Trilobites that were too small were unable to retrieve food, while predators targeted trilobites that were too large. Although it makes sense to me in the biological world to have a Gaussian distribution, there are other instances in which I cannot understand how a Gaussian distribution is logical. A possible example would be the size of stars. Why would stars form to a medium sized state naturally? Why is there not an equal number on the extremes? However, if one examines the problem from a different perspective in which the scale would shows the extremes to be less populated than the middle, the solution is clear. It would therefore be a problem of placing the center of the scale relative to the others. There would be fewer stars that are smaller or larger and more stars near the size of the medium.
Making one more connection to the readings, I remember an article in Scientific American maybe about two years ago in which it discussed Einstein’s theory of relativity. Touching on the physics behind GPS systems, it described that without Einstein, GPS systems would not have been possible. Thus, this recent reading has helped me to understand what that meant.