Quantum
The Book of Changes
An I Ching reading cast on a real quantum computer.
You choose the moment; the wavefunction chooses the answer.
What this is
For three thousand years people have brought a question to this book and let chance — yarrow stalks, coins — shape the answer. Here the chance is genuine: each of the six lines is decided by a measurement on real quantum hardware, where the outcome doesn’t exist until the measurement happens.
The text you read is the book’s own words — a careful, de-archaised English rendering held fixed across every reading. No AI writes the reading itself. We have built a quiet place to ask, and to think.
The rite
- Hold the question. Ten quiet minutes before you may ask. The question stays on your device.
- Cast the six lines. One click, one line — each one a live job on the quantum hardware.
- Read the figure.The book’s own words for the hexagram you cast, and for any line that changes.
Allow twenty minutes. One reading a week.
Why quantum
A qubit on the IBM chip is placed in superposition by a Hadamard gate — both possibilities, at once. When measured, the wavefunction collapses to a single bit with even probability. We cast eighteen of these. They compose the six lines of your reading.
We didn’t use an algorithm-based random number generator. The honest framing is the small one: you choose the moment, the universe chooses the outcome.If you’d like that to mean nothing, it can. If you’d like it to mean something, that’s for you to decide.
FAQ
Is this real quantum randomness?
Yes. Each line is cast by running a small circuit on IBM quantum hardware — a qubit is placed in superposition by a Hadamard gate, then measured. The outcome doesn't exist until the measurement happens. There is no classical pseudo-random fallback.
Does an AI write the reading?
No. The reading itself is the book's own seeded words — a careful, de-archaised English rendering of the Judgment, the Image, and the line texts for each of the 64 hexagrams, written by us and held fixed. Every reader who casts the same figure sees the same text. After the reading, you can choose to open a short, careful conversation with Claude to help you sit with the figure — that part is optional and clearly marked.
Is my question private?
Yes. Your question is held on your own device while the rite runs and never reaches our servers. If you choose to open the optional conversation with Claude afterwards, you decide then whether to share the question with Anthropic. Anthropic does not, by default, use API inputs to train its models.
How often can I cast a reading?
Once a week. The I Ching's fourth hexagram, Youthful Folly, says: I do not seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me. At the first oracle I inform him. If he asks two or three times, it is importunity. To importunity I give no information. We honour that.
How long does the rite take?
About twenty minutes. A ten-minute wait while you hold the question, followed by six live casts on the quantum hardware — each one queues on the machine and returns when it's ready.
Where does the text come from?
From our own English rendering of the Zhouyi, based on James Legge (1899, public domain) and the Chinese source, de-archaised into plain modern English. We do not use Wilhelm/Baynes, which is in copyright. The rendering is faithful, neutral, and non-leading — the rite presents the oracle; it never advises.