I Ching Mystery:
- The most ancient book ? led to our most modern machine - The Computer.

In the seventeenth century, a Jesuit missionary in China, Father Bouvet, wrote about the I Ching to his friend Gottfried von Leibniz, the philosopher and mathematician. Leibniz discovered in the pattern of the I Ching the principles of binary arithmetic and calculus, the foundation of every computer calculation performed today.
The most ancient book ? led to our most modern machine - The Computer.

In the seventeenth century, a Jesuit missionary in China, Father Bouvet, wrote about the I Ching to his friend Gottfried von Leibniz, the philosopher and mathematician. Leibniz discovered in the pattern of the I Ching the principles of binary arithmetic and calculus, the foundation of every computer calculation performed today.

The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is the most widely read of the five Chinese Classics. The book was traditionally written by the legendary Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi (2953-2838 B.C.). It is possible that the the I Ching originated from a prehistoric divination technique which dates back as far as 5000 B.C

This ancient divination system is the most intricate numerically-based oracle ever devised.

An I Ching interpretation is performed by making six binary decisions (a hexagram). This is called 'casting the I Ching'. These are written down as a stack of six solid or broken lines. This was traditionally done either by tossing yarrow stalks or coins, although there is no reason why the hexagrams can't be generated by some other means (such as a computer program).

The basic component of the I Ching is a three lined symbol called the Trigram. Each of the three lines in a trigram can either be straight or broken. A straight line symbolizes Yang:

*Yang ______________

A broken line stands for Yin:

*Yin _____ _____

There are actually four possible values for each of the lines; the two on/off values, and a line which changes from on to off or vice versa. Thus one cast of the I Ching can generate several different hexagrams, which adds depth to the interpretation. The sophistication of this method has not escaped modern interpretation, and the four-valued logic has been compared to the biochemistry of DNA amino acids. How a Neolithic shamans' divination technique presaged the basic logic of the human genome is one of the ageless mysteries.
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..this led to the computer eh? At those times Yeah lets yet to explain..and me a Historian aware of so many misteries better pop-out and walk around and solve out these misteries that i enjoy so much Ah, Well, here in Portugal we have lots..that's why sometimes i'm so busy...soon i'l tell you what i and few others found in an old church, a chapel where everyday Lisnonners go there! Crepy but for us interesting
Of course these discoveries remained between us and the ones involved!
Hope you enjoy interesting posts as i like to vary it
Hugs2U all
KK