My Sister, Macbeth, and Gottfried von Leibniz

I challenge you to find something the three people in this post's title have in common -- besides the fact that I'm posting about all of them, of course.

I’m back, which means no more pink and no more polka dots (although Krysi is the most perfect person on the face of the earth, and she has remarkably good taste in Calvin and Hobbes comics)! Perfect though she may be, I’m glad I didn’t have to see Rhetorical Response through rose-colored glasses. Alex, thank you for saving me the reconstruction work. Everyone else, thank you for the funny comments!

I will be posting analysis of Macbeth starting tomorrow. In the mean time, click here for a summary of the story. The most condensed version of the plot is as follows: Macbeth, a Scottish general and nobleman, decides he wants to become king. With the help of his nefarious wife, he assasinates the king and gains the crown, In order to secure his position, he orders more murders, but eventually, he loses the crown, his wife, and his own life.

While I was gone, Brett posted this comment, in regard to my post about mathematical development:

I'm interested to hear an explanation of Liebniz's argument that two digits express the relationship between two beings of God and man.

Also, is binary code really attributed to Liebniz? Or is that something Christians say and secularists deny?

I'll take the second question first. I researched Leibniz a bit more after receiving your comment, and he definitely contributed to the development of binary code. However, other, older civilizations had already explored the idea before Leibniz' time, so he didn't invent the entire concept. Various sources differ slightly as to how great his influence was on the numerical system, but there is not a clear divide between Christian and secular opinions.

Leibniz' related binary code and theology by arguing that God, represented by the numeral 1, created the universe out of nothing, or 0. Man, as the height of God's creation, and made in God's image, is very closely related to the being of God. I have not researched Leibniz' theology in depth, but from what I have read, his beliefs did not all match those of orthodox Christianity.