A hybrid method where the random bits are "inflated" to a larger bit
stream for use as a key for messages longer than the random key can
work. But as noted earlier, using a hash function to expand a short key
yields no more entropy; an adversary who knows or guesses what hash
function was used, needs only "brute force" the original short key to
recover the whole ciphertext.

I ask this semi-rhetorically, because in my cosmology, the universe

must have some non-determinism in order for life to appear.

This far, physics describes a Universe where the balance of Order and

Chaos is ideal for creating life.

Ah, that's only the ecosystem of the Earth. Science, to my knowledge

has not expanded this balance to include the heavens.

Exobiology is a thing. In the early days it was a "science without a
subject matter to study" but that has changed. A long while back, amino
acids were discovered in interstellar dust clouds, indicated by spectral
absorption lines in starlight shining through them. Closer to home,
comets have been found to contain a wide range of biochemicals. For
reasons I still don't quite understand, people used to talk about
meteorites from Mars hitting the Earth, and some speculated that life
may have hitched a ride here on them. Now this: According to some
measurements, what looks like fragments of tissue and even possible
micro-artifacts containing biological materials are being swept out of
space by the Earth on a truly massive scale:

http://www.panspermia.org/balloon2.htm

Almost as if somebody set that up on

purpose. To put a stop to that kind of "superstitious" speculation,

some physicists propose that a vast, unlimited number of distinct

universes must exist, each with its own physical laws, where only a few

have conditions supporting the development of life.

The confusion here is in the word "universe". The word already

encodes an idea of WHAT IS. Namely, a three dimensional void with a

continuous single vector of time. But see, that order is already

presumptive. (This is why I say "in MY cosmology")..

I lost count of how many dimensions string theory is up to now. Maybe
19? As I said, math is my weakest subject.

Dark matter, which I long considered a modern equivalent of the 19th
century's Luminiferous Ether, now appears to be a thing; its structure
has been mapped and space behaves "as if" dark matter was responsible
for the distribution of galaxies made of 'regular' matter. So there we
have empirical evidence of a 'universe next door' that interacts with
ours exclusively through gravity.

So why not dozens, millions or quadrillions of "universes", each with
its own Big Bang and distinct physical laws, coexisting with our own in
a larger context that contains them all and could be called "the real
universe"?

If so, that would explain why our space time continuum appears to be
designed to create life, without the necessity for a guiding
intelligence of some kind: In this scenario our life-generating cosmos
is not special in any way, except that we happen to be inside it. No
evidence supports this multiple-cosmos model; by definition none can.
But it has become an article of faith among the best educated Atheists;
their religion can't get by without it.

But if so, there

must be a larger cosmic context in which all these universes happen, and

the same speculation arises - how did this massively parallel trial and

error process get started? Which jumps us up to yet another "higher"

context, etc. ad infinitum.

Verily, 'tis a mindfucker.

LOLz, funny, but there are answers. Keep probing...

Maybe there are. Maybe in some sense I know some of those answers - I
have had some very unusual experiences as results from intensive
practice of mystical techniques. But alas: The physical brain can not
encode and retain more than a tiny fragment of that information, and
language can convey even less. The verdict of mystical philosophies and
their associated training programs is unanimous: The ground state of
reality can not be described or explained, you have to go and see for
yourself.

:o)