I Ching Later Read as Binary

First written between 1,000 to 750 BCE, I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text. Some interpret the complex text to have introduced the binary system, based on its two symbols, the broken (yin) and solid (yang) lines, representing darkness and light respectively. This Western interpretation of the I Ching as binary may not be consistent with the document’s original meaning yet has impacted mathematics, philosophy and—thousands of years later—modern technology. In that sense, the I Ching was later read as an early form of binary.

The formative figure and avid reader of Chinese texts, Gottfried Leibniz, who is also discussed later in this chapter, would go on to document the binary system in his 1703 paper, “Explanation of Binary Arithmetic.” In the paper, through his perhaps flawed interpretation of the I Ching, Leibniz draws comparisons between his binary system and the Fuxi hexagram arrangement Bouvet sent him, citing it several times and employing its identifiable hexagrams.

According to Dr. Andreas Schöter, I Ching’s system of symbols can be interpreted as binary representation. Schöter argues that the versatile system has inspired both historical and contemporary computational thinkers. Additionally, several prominent generative artists have been inspired by the I Ching throughout the previous decades, including John Cage, Manfred Mohr and Marius Watz.