Leibniz and the Christianization of China (Ken Levasseur)

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

I've just started Quicksilver and in the first meeting of the book between Daniel and Enoch, Leibniz' name came up in regard to his binary number system. Coincidently, I had just finished reading an article by Frank Swetz in the October 2003 Mathematics Magazine titled "Leibniz, the Yijing, and the Religious Conversion of the Chinese" In short, a binary code that appears in Yijing (I Ching) was brought to Leibniz' attention. He speculated, through shared letters with Jesuit mathematician Joachim Bouvet, that this early use of the binary number system in China might have been a form of "universal language" that linked the various ancient religions. Their hope was that this connection could be brought to the Chinese emperor's attention and would be the basis for an argument for their Christian conversion. Needless to say, this whole scheme didn't work out. I don't know if this is a touched on in Quicksilver, but it was one of Leibniz's concerns during the turn of the 18th century.

Addendum to above: This is not touched on in Quicksilver, but is (very) peripherally mentioned in Cryptonomicon. In a scene with Lawrence Waterhouse, Rudolf von Hacklheber and Alan Turing, Hacklheber says "Leibniz was fascinated by the I Ching!" and Leibniz did use the I Ching as a set of encryption key generators for his correspondence with Eliza de la Zeur.

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In addition, Umberto Eco's "Serendipities" contains essays which elaborate on both themes: Leibniz's notice of binary numbers in the I Ching and the belief that a universal language existed in China.