
Leibniz's Explanation of Binary Arithmetic (1701) - caiocaiocaio
http://www.leibniz-translations.com/binary.htm
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olooney
Liebniz is something of an unacknowledged grandfather of computer science.
Everyone knows Babbage for designing but never finishing a universal
mechanical computer, but a century earlier Lienbniz materially advanced the
state-of-the-art by designed and actually constructing the first mechanical
calculator capable of all four basic mathematical operations: addition,
subtraction, multipication, and division.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepped_reckoner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepped_reckoner)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_wheel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_wheel)

Liebniz's design was the basis of the first successful mass produced
mechanical calculator more than a century later:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmometer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmometer)

He also wrote extensively on the concept of artificial languages and what we
today recognize as Boolean algebra:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristica_universalis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristica_universalis)

[https://www.iep.utm.edu/leib-log/](https://www.iep.utm.edu/leib-log/)

His work on these subjects was explicitly cited by Frege as the inspiration
for his own seminal work on formal logic.

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pron
Leibniz plays a central role in a book I composed of excerpts of original
sources about the history of computation, logic and algebra[1], and in a talk
I gave about it[2].

[1]: [https://pron.github.io/computation-logic-
algebra](https://pron.github.io/computation-logic-algebra)

[2]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNmR0q1uA0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNmR0q1uA0)

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nanna
Also, if the philosophical roots of computing are of interest, then check out

Martin Davis "The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing"

I'm working on an article about Norbert Wiener's cybernetic reading of Leibniz
atm...

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f00_
I copped Cybernetics awhile ago and just kinda skimmed it

anything about Leibniz in there?

~~~
nanna
Out of curiosity, what did you make of Cybernetics? It's a pretty unwieldy
book, especially today... Did you ever try the Human Use of Human Beings?

~~~
f00_
i just thought it was interesting if not just for the subjects it covers.
information theory before shannon, Henri Bergson's time philosophy,
thermodynamics/statistical mechanics, learning machines (neural networks?)

I'll try to get my hands on human use of human beings, probably give
cybernetics another run through too

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schoen
More on Fuxi's figures mentioned by Leibniz:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua)

~~~
goldenkey
Are these just the names of the hexagrams in the I Ching?

~~~
schoen
They're related, but each hexagram contains two of these (which are apparently
sometimes written slightly separated and considered separately). As there are
8 of these symbols, there are 64 hexagrams.

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YeGoblynQueenne
>> every reasoning derivable from notions could be derived from these notions'
characters by a way of reckoning, which would be one of the more important
means of assisting the human mind.

I guess he's saying that symbolic reasoning can be performed automatically
("by a way of _reckoning_ ", in the sense of computation). He's advocating for
the use of automatic symbolic manipulation as a way to enhance the
capabilities of the human mind. That's, like, the soul of logic-based,
symbolicist AI. You know - "GOFAI".

~~~
nanna
Yes! Leibniz thought it would be possible to invent "a kind of alphabet of
human thoughts" in which "everything can be discovered and judged by it
comparison of the letters of this alphabet and an analysis of the words made
from them." These would be essentially arithmetic - every thought would have a
numbers. This would "increase the *power of the mind much more than optical
lenses strengthen the eyes and which will be as far superior to microscopes or
telescopes as reason is superior to sight." This was influenced (but not
reducible) to what he had been reading from Chinese philosophy.

In 1679 he said it would take, "five years to complete project with a few
select men." Famous last words...

~~~
YeGoblynQueenne
Well, there were a few unforeseen problems along the way...

On the other hand, so many brilliant minds have put in so much great work in
this idea that it's just silly to let it die only because we're, well, stuck.

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nanna
Lloyd Strickland's "Leibniz's Monadology: A New Translation And Guide" is an
excellent way to get into Leibniz.

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dosy
It strikes me that Leibniz would have been right at home in this time. I can
see him blogging, sending emails like the posted explanation, writing RFCs.

