Random Rationalized

I wouldn't quite say that seeds are used "to increase the degree of randomness". It seems that the author understands it, but you can only increase the degree of randomness if the seed is not easily predicted (e.g. from the microseconds since you last booted your machine, the pid of the program running, entropy from mouse movements).

There are of course hardware devices which produce lots of entropy, from RF noise to quantum mechanical observations.