42 in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

[peduncle]

How many final fantasy games will there be?

maybe if you multipy the 42 times ten then i'd agree with you

 

[Connor Lonske]

Can't tell you, your universe would be destoyed, good thing i'm in the cowboy universe. YEEEEEEEE HAWWWWW!

 

[O maestre]

how many times you can fold a towel, if you try really hard

 

[Anarchemitis]

WHAT DO YOU GET IF YOU MULTIPLY SIX BY NINE

FAIL

You haven't read the last book, have you?

 

[themadhacker]

No no no... It was Oakram's Laser [http://nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=081227].

ha, nice one, no one refrences brian cleviner anymore, even though it is a little off topic.

 

[Fronken]

This thread is a total mind-fuck, we shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that, we already know the ultimate answer, lets be happy and just move along, who knows what might happen if we do find out the ultimate question to which 42 is the answer, then perhaps our meaning of existence isn't valid anymore, cause our existence is only here to find the ultimate question, if that's the case the entire world will end, Do you really want the entire world to end!?

On a more serious note, i'd wager a guess it has something to do with how large of a quantity we need of a certain item to be able to move colonies into space and populate other planets.

And remember, im not paranoid, i just have a lively imagination!

 

[Lyiat]

As said by the allmighty Richard...

"The meaning of life is 'bucket'"

... for every problem can be solved, somehow, with a bucket.

Global Recession.

The dumbing down of art.

The deadliness of cheese.

Lets see...

Hit George Bush with a bucket. Several times.

Place buckets over the heads of the horrible artists, so they may not paint any more.

Place the cheese in a bucket, then throw them away.

 

[mangus]

As a wise man once said "To beer! The answer, and solution to all of lifes problems."

(I know it was Homer Simpson)

"cause of and solution to"

 

[cbreeden]

I'm hoping for the answer (question?) to come about during these last seasons of Lost. I mean, 42 is the final number in the series of cursed numbers. Huh. Actually, now I need to think about this more.

 

[Varchld]

So who here can think of a valid question to the ultimate answer? I mean Surely if a giant computer can figure it out maybe we can guess it.

PS if the universe explodes then you guessed correctly.

The question you should be thinking about is "Has this thread been done before?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.81398]
Then maybe "Should I use the search button?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/global/search/?q=ultimate+answer&cx=005672590579257297818%3Amkmrjhvsnwa&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&sa=Search#1233]
or at the very least "Should I write more then 2 sentences to make a proper discussion thread?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.84120.1190685]

 

[Lyiat]

So who here can think of a valid question to the ultimate answer? I mean Surely if a giant computer can figure it out maybe we can guess it.

PS if the universe explodes then you guessed correctly.

The question you should be thinking about is "Has this thread been done before?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.81398]
Then maybe "Should I use the search button?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/global/search/?q=ultimate+answer&cx=005672590579257297818%3Amkmrjhvsnwa&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&sa=Search#1233]
or at the very least "Should I write more then 2 sentences to make a proper discussion thread?" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.84120.1190685]

Perhaps you should spend a little less time flaming and a little more time enjoying the thread. We all know that the search button doesn't work all that well, and that these threads slip through from time to time. Now, pick up a little lesson in etiquette and be a hair nicer. People will like you a little more, as Elitist attitudes like your own are generally frowned upon.

*and, again, uses afor mentioned bucket solution*

 

[Josdeb]

Well, the question you really need to answer is:

Did Deep Thought take into account that the Golgafrincham's B Ark would crash into the Prehistoric Earth and pollute the gene pool?

If you think of the Earth as program to be run in isolation from unanticipated influences, then 6 x 9 would imply a mistake. However, given that Deep Thought was created by Pan Dimensional Beings outside our normal Universe's space-time continuum it is reasonable to conclude that this race and the machine they constructed to determine the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question could see every event in time and know that the Golgafrincham's Ark had been programmed for a collision course with a small blue-green planet they would call Fintlewoodlewix.

If a question is asked through the construction of a living computer, The Earth, within a dynamic Universe that will interact with it rather than, as in the case of Deep Thought, outside of its ordinary dimensions, you can bet that there is a good reason for this change of context. It seems very likely that the whole history of the Universe was being allowed to affect this backwater of the Milky Way.

Just think about the time-complexity of the original Answer. What do you imagine were the input parameters?

Perhaps taking into account future events was too complicated for the Magratheaians to build in our dimension.
The notion you're making is to build a computer that will only run corretly if it obtains a virus or is drastically tampered with from an outside source.

But perhaps the Pan-Dimensional Beings couldn't foresee the future? Earth WAS destroyed seconds before it completed its run. Shouldn't they have been able to see this also? If they could see future events, wouldn't it be better to move the Earth into a location where it won't be destroyed while it calculates?

 

[Draygen]

There are those that believe that if ever both the Ultimate question of the universe and the Ultimate answer are both known, the universe will immediately cease to exist and be replaced by something even more bizarre and unexplainable.

There are others that believe this has already happened.

 

[Josdeb]

There are those that believe that if ever both the Ultimate question of the universe and the Ultimate answer are both known, the universe will immediately cease to exist and be replaced by something even more bizarre and unexplainable.

There are others that believe this has already happened.

Perhaps 42 times? That's my theory.
I reckon the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything was once upon a time 1, but it was too simple and once the beings within it discovered both the Question and the Answer, it was replaced. Then the Answer then became 2, but, again, people found it out and the universe ceased to exist and was replaced with a universe where the Ultimate answer is 3, etc, etc until now we are at 42.

So I think the question is, what number is our universe in the long chain of universes that have existed?

 

[Lyiat]

There are those that believe that if ever both the Ultimate question of the universe and the Ultimate answer are both known, the universe will immediately cease to exist and be replaced by something even more bizarre and unexplainable.

There are others that believe this has already happened.

Perhaps 42 times? That's my theory.
I reckon the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything was once upona time 1, but it was too simple and was replaced. Then the Answer was 2, but, again, people found it out and the universe ceased to exist and was replaced with a universe where the Ultimate answer is 3, etc, etc until now we are at 42.

Ah, but I can stop such reasoning in its tracks by;

A. Hitting you with a bucket
B. Jamming a bucket over your head to prevent you from continuing your thoughts
C. Demonstrating either A or B while you are talking to break your thought process because of my outlandish actions.

So, clearly... "Bucket" wins.

 

[Josdeb]

There are those that believe that if ever both the Ultimate question of the universe and the Ultimate answer are both known, the universe will immediately cease to exist and be replaced by something even more bizarre and unexplainable.

There are others that believe this has already happened.

Perhaps 42 times? That's my theory.
I reckon the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything was once upona time 1, but it was too simple and was replaced. Then the Answer was 2, but, again, people found it out and the universe ceased to exist and was replaced with a universe where the Ultimate answer is 3, etc, etc until now we are at 42.

Ah, but I can stop such reasoning in its tracks by;

A. Hitting you with a bucket
B. Jamming a bucket over your head to prevent you from continuing your thoughts
C. Demonstrating either A or B while you are talking to break your thought process because of my outlandish actions.

So, clearly... "Bucket" wins.

Of course! I can't argue with a theory as sound as that one, but in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy universe, where Richard the Undead Warlock doesn't exist, I think I'll stick with mine.