The I Ching
Two symbols generating all complexity, recognized across cultures as the same deep code.
Visual Provenance
Leibniz's arrangement of the hexagrams places them in a logical binary sequence. By visualizing the broken lines as '0' and solid lines as '1', the image bridges ancient Chinese philosophy and modern computing. It shows that the structure of binary code—the language of the digital age—was anticipated by a divination system thousands of years ago.
The Dual Line
Each hexagram consists of six lines. Every line has only two states: broken (yin) or unbroken (yang). With this minimal alphabet, the system spans 64 symbolic situations. Duality is not a theme here. It is the generator.
Zhouyi / early I Ching core text
The I Ching
Modern Computing
Zhouyi / early I Ching core text
The I Ching
Modern Computing
Western Zhou Dynasty
The I Ching (Book of Changes) originated in the Zhou dynasty. Its system of hexagrams provided a way to model the dynamics of change, influencing Chinese philosophy for three millennia.
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A Book About Change, Not Things
The I Ching anticipates a universe described by transformations. Its figures describe processes like returning, approaching, waiting, or breaking apart. Reality is portrayed as movement rather than substance. This aligns with the Yin Yang philosophy: the world is not made of fixed objects, but of dynamic relationships. Each hexagram represents a moment in the flow of change, not a static state.
The King Wen Sequence
The King Wen ordering pairs hexagrams by opposition and reflection. It is a structural meditation on duality, presenting a world that oscillates between states and their complements. This arrangement reveals the I Ching's deeper structure: every situation has its opposite, and every hexagram transforms into another through the changing of lines. The system is a map of all possible transformations.
Shao Yong's Binary Echo
In the Song dynasty, Shao Yong arranged the hexagrams in a pattern that resembles counting in base two. He was not doing arithmetic, but the binary-like structure was already visible centuries before Europe discovered it. This suggests that the binary logic underlying the I Ching was recognized by Chinese scholars long before Leibniz formalized it mathematically.
The Jesuit Bridge
Jesuit missionary Joachim Bouvet sent Leibniz a woodcut of the 64 hexagrams. Leibniz immediately recognized a two-state logic that mirrored his own work on binary numbers. This cross-cultural recognition was profound: a 17th-century European mathematician saw in an ancient Chinese divination system the same mathematical structure he was developing independently. It revealed that duality is a universal pattern, not a cultural invention.
Leibniz Sees 0 and 1 Inside Yin and Yang
Leibniz mapped unbroken lines to 1 and broken lines to 0. He treated the full 64 hexagrams as a complete binary number system. The ancient symbolic structure and modern computation suddenly touched. This connection was more than coincidence. It revealed that the I Ching had encoded binary logic thousands of years before computers existed. The same duality that generates 64 symbolic situations also generates all of mathematics.
Artifact Profile
Duality as a Universal Language
Duality appears whenever people try to model the world. Two states, alternating and combining. The I Ching and binary arithmetic are separated by time and culture, but share the same underlying principle. This suggests that duality is not just a philosophical concept or a mathematical convenience—it is a fundamental pattern in how reality organizes itself. From ancient divination to modern computing, the same binary logic appears again and again.
The Long Shadow Into Computing
Binary arithmetic became the architecture of modern computing. The I Ching shows the same dual logic in a symbolic, human form: a guidebook for navigating uncertainty and transformation. Every computer, every digital device, operates on the same binary principle that the I Ching encoded thousands of years ago. The ancient and the modern share the same mathematical DNA.
The I Ching Hoodie
Own a piece of history. Premium heavyweight cotton hoodie featuring the The I Ching artifact.
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