42 in hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

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Trivun

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sonicmaster1989 said:
What do you get when you multiply sock by tuna, and then divide it by Winchestertonfieldville? Then for the question, simply add free will in liberal doses (stirring occasionally) while reciting the opening to Star Trek. Bake for 45 mins at 210.3859 degrees Kelvin, let stand for 2 millenia and eat watching your favorite episode of Clarrisa Explains it All. Does that answer your question?
Yes, very adequately, thank you.

P.S. Sorry to double post
 

GrimmjowPantera

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There are forty two rules in Cricket. http://www.rulescricket.co.uk/ Douglas Adams LOVED cricket, 'cuz it was English.

This is the only answer I see that fits.

Also, Adams was an atheist, so the 42 thing is just a gag for the book. XD
 

Archaon6044

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There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for, and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizzarly inexpliccable.

There is another theory; which states that this has already happened.

There is yet a third theory, which suggests that both of the first two theories were concocted by a whiley Editor of The Hitchhickers' Guide to the Galaxy, in order to increase Universal levels of uncertainty and paranoia, and so boost the sales of the Guide.
 

Sgt. Dante

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mark_n_b said:
Fightgarr said:
Uncompetative said:
WHAT DO YOU GET IF YOU MULTIPLY SIX BY NINE
You get 54...
That was seriously LOL funny.

As for the ultimate question that correlates with the ultimate answer of 42, those who have not read the hitchhikers series should really just not post on this thread, you look dumb.
Was gonna say, but people will always want their 2-cents
 

Metonym

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Point is that you will have to find a qustion which in itself is not part of an "solution" to a real problem.

The paranoia however is real.
 

Archaon6044

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if it's my 2 cents up against the wall, i'd like to clarify my point

what i meant was that in finding an answer, we effectivly have quantified the Universe. that quote was taken from the original radio series of tHHQttG (start of the second 'season'), and it basicly suggests that in understanding the universe, we will end it, and replace it with something even harder to quantify
 

gremily

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"Why did you not take that garbage out when your girlfreind asked you last week?"
 

JakubK666

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Looking at all the evidence throughout the books, 42 isn't even the correct answer so all the theories that don't involve 'It's merely a gag' can already be dismissed unless Douglas Adams was actually thinking seriously about the number before deciding to buzzkill the entire idea in the third book.We'll never know

Then again, Stephen Fry does insist that Adams(as much as he insisted it was a completely random number) told him the secret behind 42 and that the reason he chose it is "fascinating, extraordinary and, when you think hard about it, completely obvious.". Still, he refuses to share it with anyone claiming that he'll take the secret to his grave.
 

Uncompetative

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Josdeb said:
Uncompetative said:
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?
It is not really a matter of them foreseeing the future, as I said: they are Pan Dimensional Beings who exist in a reality beyond our normal Space-time continuum. That means they are outside time as we know it, but not time as they know it in their dimension - hence the long wait for Deep Thought's answer (as Deep Thought exists in their reality not ours). So, the practical upshot of all this is that the Vogon conspiracy involving a bunch of high-powered psychiatrists to build a Hyperspace Bypass through the Sol system was anticipated by Deep Thought along with the Plural notion of that sector of space that made it relatively easy for the race who were more intelligent than the Pan Dimensional Beings to restore the Earth at the beginning of 'So Long and Thanks for all the Fish'. Namely, the:

Dolphins.
 

Ninjariffic

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What did Graham Chapman say when Douglas Adams asked him what the answer to life, the universe and everything was?
 

TheGhostOfSin

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Whiskyjakk said:
How many laps around the Pyramids can a hoopy frood do after a Galactic Gargle Blaster without forgetting where his towel is?
You mean a Froopy Drood?

I believe that the question is the simple equation 42=?
 

Lyiat

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... I must get the last word in this thread....



*uses bucket to silence all opposing viewpoints* Keekeekee.... I win.
 

Echo42

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Lyiat said:
As said by the allmighty Richard...

"The meaning of life is 'bucket'"

... for every problem can be solved, somehow, with a bucket.
Looking for Group Comic??
 

Echo42

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oddly enough the number 42 has been around me my whole life, and i had never seen the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy or even heard of it till the movie came out a few years back and when the answer was spoken by deep thought i cracked up... i also think im clinically insane o_O

but my answer... would be, ATRO Attention To Round Objects (for i believe the answer lies within them, also Penguins are a factor in there)
 

Echo42

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JakubK666 said:
Looking at all the evidence throughout the books, 42 isn't even the correct answer so all the theories that don't involve 'It's merely a gag' can already be dismissed unless Douglas Adams was actually thinking seriously about the number before deciding to buzzkill the entire idea in the third book.We'll never know

Then again, Stephen Fry does insist that Adams(as much as he insisted it was a completely random number) told him the secret behind 42 and that the reason he chose it is "fascinating, extraordinary and, when you think hard about it, completely obvious.". Still, he refuses to share it with anyone claiming that he'll take the secret to his grave.
is it possible that the number is merely a representation of what its made of?

numbers, even numbers, the word even... could it be, that the meaning of life is that life is even in every way, that there is no good, no bad, no right nor wrong that life is meant to be played out on the fine line that can only be classified as 42 o_O
 

Kabutos

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Crofty said:
Zetona said:
Crofty said:
What do you get if you multiply six by seven, like on the crudely made scrabble board. Yes I know 6 x 7 is 49, the idea is the answer is wrong and so is the universe. Or that Earth isn't that great a computer.
6x7 is 42...
Damn. I failed on multiple counts there, I meant to type 8, but put 7 and the answer to 6 x 8, and got the incorrect question wrong. I'll go and hang my head in shame.
6 x 8 is 48...

More on topic, I think the answer of 42 is that is 24 backwards, and 24 being the awesome show that it is, warrants it's backwards number to be the answer to The Question.