The Secret behind Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz- the godfather of Computer Science[Storytime Saturdays]
The keys behind the man who made key for Computing, Quantum Physics, and many other fields
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Computer Science and Computing have contributed trillions to the world economy.
Calculators have streamlined the lives of pretty much everyone.
And Quantum Computing is among the next big things, with the potential to revolutionize society.
What if I told you that there was one man, in the 1600s who managed to lay the foundations for these very different topics? One man who was cited by legends such as Einstein and is considered by many to be the smartest man ever. 🤯🤯
Today, we will be covering the story of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the man called a Universal Genius. In particular, I will go over the key behind Leibniz’s genius, which allowed him to become one of the modern fathers of computing. We will uncover the secret behind his insane achievements so that you too can go on to make a mark.
Key Highlights
The Secret to Leibniz- As you will see Leibniz is someone who combines and mixes ideas from multiple domains. His creation of Binary Arithmetic was inspired by two very different sources- ancient Chinese Philosophy and his faith in a Perfect Christian God. Much of his success lay in his interests in multiple domains, and his ability to mix up ideas (a principle I touch on a lot in this newsletter). If you’re looking to hit the next level as a developer, manager, or tech leader- you need to go beyond the technical and educate yourself in various domains. Here is my recommendation for the list of topics that you all should know-
If you want to know my recommended sources for these, check out my article How I got a USD 100/hour offer at 21 Use these as a base, and then build upon these by studying whatever you find interesting. I have a very big list of free resources you can look to study over here.
Leibniz the Diplomat created Leibniz the Genius- Leibniz was a diplomat, which put him in contact with people from all over. He met with various leading thinkers across different countries and cultures.
The rest of this email will detail some of his major contributions, their inspirations, and how his contributions impacted the world today. Let’s get right into it.
PS: I’m using a different citation style, where all the resources are linked at the end. That works better when you have multiple resources, that you link to in different areas. If there is something you want to read into, look at the citation number, and go to the source to read more.
The biography of Leibniz
Computer Science as a field is the amalgamation of various domains. It borrows ideas from disciplines such as Economics, Math, Biology, and Philosophy [1][2]. Thus, it makes sense that some of the most impactful people in Computing were people capable of pulling ideas from multiple domains. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was one such man. A diplomat, theologist, and mathematician, Leibniz wore many hats. He was a man that combined his curiosity for learning about many different ideas, his ability to network with top experts in multiple domains, and insight in blending multiple streams of thought to advance humanity. While most known for his contributions to Computing, we see that this superpower allowed Leibniz to impact various domains like Quantum Physics [3], Calculations [4], and Math [9].
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in Leipzig, Germany on July 1, 1646 to Friedrich Leibniz, a professor of moral philosophy, and Catharina Schmuck, whose father was a law professor. Though Leibniz attended elementary school, he was mostly self-taught from the books in his father’s library (who had died in 1652 when Leibniz was six) [9].
Leibniz played many different roles- he was a diplomat, a civil servant, and an academic. He advanced fields like psychology, math, geology, and library science. He was simultaneously devoted to both the principles of the Enlightenment and to Christianity [5]. This was a recurring motif in his life. Leibniz was a man of many different interests and aptitudes, and he mashed them together to generate novel ideas.
This diversity of interests reflects even in Leibniz’s contributions to Computing and Computer Science. Instead of focusing on just one area/domain, Leibniz focused on multiple areas. His work has had a profound impact on both theoretical aspects like Boolean Algebra and Logic and on physical engineering. Almost every element of computers has some connection to Leibniz and his work.
Leibniz is in many respects the godfather of Computer Science. He is well known for his work on Binary Arithmetic and using Booleans to encode formal logic (in what he called the algebra of thinking). This approach was later expanded upon by computer scientists and logicians. Bertrand Russell wrote that Leibniz advanced the field of formal logic “in a way that has not been seen since Aristotle” [6]. The linking of truth values (0 and 1) with logical operators (and, or, etc.) forms the basis of how logic gates work in modern computers [7]. Binary arithmetic has been one of the foundations without which computing would not exist (at least in the form we know it).
Leibniz’s approach of encoding thoughts into algebra had a profound impact on another revolutionary in computer science and math, Kurt Gödel [10]. Gödel was inspired by this approach, and applied something similar, using symbols to encode formal systems [6]. This led to his proof of the incompleteness theorem, which was used by Computing visionaries like Alan Turing [10].
To come up with this, Leibniz took inspiration from I-Ching, an ancient Chinese treatise on philosophy and life. Leibniz even named his article on binary arithmetic: "Explanation of the binary arithmetic, which uses only the characters 1 and 0, with some remarks on its usefulness, and on the light it throws on the ancient Chinese figures of Fu Xi". Fu Xi being the first author of the I-Ching [8]. It also worth noting that Leibniz was a big believer in God as a good and rational being [5], and this led him to believe that the world was set up on rational principles. This was atleast partly the cause of his attempt at encoding thoughts to perform algebra on them. As Leibniz said-
“The only way to rectify our reasonings is to make them as tangible as those of the Mathematicians, so that we can find our error at a glance, and when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate [calculemus], without further ado, to see who is right.” [5]
Therefore, Leibniz’s contributions to logic, computer science theory, and Binary arithmetic were in large part due to his tendency to pull in and synthesize ideas from multiple domains. His wide array of interests gave him a lot of possible sources of inspiration, and his ability at combining them gave him deep theoretical insights.
Leibniz combined these theoretical insights with his engineering abilities to describe a computer that worked using punch cards and marbles. “He essentially explained the functional principle of electronic computers in which gravity and the movement of the marbles are, however, replaced by electrical circuits.” [6] This provides evidence of his ability to solve problems from various angles and combine multiple streams of ideas.
This ability also shows itself in Leibniz’s calculator. Leibniz improved upon Pascal’s calculator by adding in the ability to do all 4 basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). This made it the first calculator that could do this [6] and was a huge contributor to the later development of mechanical calculators. Furthermore, this calculator integrated the binary system [4] and had an internal memory [6]. Both developments are crucial to the field of modern computing. To have done so, Leibniz would have needed physical engineering skills, an insight into Pascal’s machine, and the capability to tie that in with his development of binary arithmetic. Once again demonstrating his ability to combine various domains to create extremely valuable solutions.
Leibniz’s contributions to computing did not end there. He demonstrated remarkable mental versatility, making amazing contributions to Linear Algebra and Calculus on top of his work on Binary [9]. All 3 of these domains have been crucial in Machine Learning and AI, a very hot field in Computer Science in contemporary society. The revenue from the ML industry is expected to grow to 410 billion USD by 2029 [11]. Most big companies are starting to integrate ML into their services, which means that the real value generated will probably much higher. Meta had a revenue of over 100 billion USD in 2021 [12]. With more data and better AI, ML will continue to be integrated into society. And Leibniz’s math contributions have had a role to play in it.
Leibniz also covered philosophy, literature, psychology, and even physics in his writing [5]. In fact, while Newton gets a lot of credit for his contributions to classical physics, Leibniz’s thoughts are aligned much closer to Modern Physics. “We find that Leibniz’s way of thinking can still provide insight into fundamental problems of physics… Leibniz himself could not possess all those insights, simply because physics was not yet sufficiently developed then, but he had already forged some conceptual tools with which some fundamental problems of modern physics can be addressed.” [3]
Einstein himself was inspired by Leibniz when creating his theory of relativity [5].
This shows that Leibniz was far beyond a Computer Scientist. While he did make extremely important contributions to the domain, this was a byproduct of his actual ability- an ability to pull from and combine multiple sources. It is known that “While young, Leibniz immersed himself in history, poetry, math, and other subjects, gaining knowledge in many different fields” [9]. This gave him an ability to interact with multiple kinds of ideas and thoughts. This was extremely helpful to him later on in life, as he was exposed to many kinds of ideas, which he combined to make his legendary contributions.
Sources-
1. Computer: A History of the Information Machine (The Sloan Technology Series) 3rd Edition. ISBN-13: 978-0813345901
2. The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. ISBN-13: 978-1476708690
3. Leibniz and Modern Physics - Lo Sguardo | Rivista Di Filosofia Online. 23 Jan. 2022, www.losguardo.net/en/leibniz-and-modern-physics-2/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2022. [Sent 11/21/2020]
4. “What Is Leibniz Calculator?” GeeksforGeeks, 12 Jan. 2021, www.geeksforgeeks.org/what-is-leibniz-calculator/. [Last updated 19 Jan, 2021]
5. Wikipedia Contributors. “Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz. [Last edited 25 September 2022]
6. Anonym. “Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: The First Computer Scientist | Tellerreport.com.” Www.tellerreport.com, www.tellerreport.com/business/2021-05-22-gottfried-wilhelm-leibniz--the-first-computer-scientist.SklCox98t_.html [Written 5/22/2021]
7. “Logic Gates, Truth Tables, Boolean Algebra AND, OR, NOT, NAND & NOR.” Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQBRzsPhw2w&ab_channel=TheOrganicChemistryTutor. Accessed 29 Sept. 2022. [Uploaded 01/22/2021]
8. “The Ancient Book of Wisdom at the Heart of Every Computer.” The Guardian, 21 Mar. 2014, www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/21/ancient-book-wisdom-i-ching-computer-binary-code. Written- 03/21/14
9. https://www.facebook.com/thoughtcodotcom. “Biography of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Philosopher and Mathematician.” ThoughtCo, 2019, www.thoughtco.com/gottfried-wilhelm-leibniz-4588248.Written- 04/18/19
10. D. “Machinamenta: Gödel and Leibniz.” Machinamenta, 23 Oct. 2012, machinamenta.blogspot.com/2012/10/godel-and-leibniz.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2022. Written- 10/23/12
11. “Machine Learning Market: Industry Analysis and Forecast (2022-2029).” MAXIMIZE MARKET RESEARCH, www.maximizemarketresearch.com/market-report/global-machine-learning-market/23945/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2022. Published Jan 2019
12. https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/why-the-facebook-sell-off-is-a-mistake-71057e57798d. Written- 02/05/22