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| Thread ID: 35745 | 2003-07-20 08:21:00 | OT The ultimate answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything | Misty (368) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 161528 | 2003-07-20 08:21:00 | I am very disturbed to read in the Herald of 20 July that Dr Geoffrey West says the the answer to the mystery of life is ...four. When I read the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" some 19 years ago, I learned that the answer to the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything" is 42. Now I learn that the answer is now supposedly the number 4. Have I been leading my life for almost the last two decades on the wrong premise ? What do I do now ? Do I believe that the answer is 42 or 4 ? The answer is crucial !! ?:| ?:| |
Misty (368) | ||
| 161529 | 2003-07-20 08:28:00 | Oops !! Date of the Herald was Friday 18 July |
Misty (368) | ||
| 161530 | 2003-07-20 08:32:00 | HHGTTG actually concluded that the answer was 54, not 42. However 42 (base 13) is 54 (base 10) so thats still OK |
godfather (25) | ||
| 161531 | 2003-07-20 08:35:00 | hiya, 42 is heaps better, sounds cooler ;) anyways, i understand how the world = 4, based on the three dimensions + 1, just wondering though, what is the +1, maybe time? isn't it thought that time is the 4th dimension? i'll be quiet now, i have gotta remember this is a computer forum, not physics ;) - David |
DangerousDave (697) | ||
| 161532 | 2003-07-20 09:15:00 | Hi Godfather,I have just finished reading HHGTTG(for the first time,I'm ashamed to say)and my copy says 42.Where did you get 54 from.No mention of that at all in my copy.Are there different versions.A great book, whichever it is.Very clever. Peter |
Peter Coleman (597) | ||
| 161533 | 2003-07-20 09:18:00 | 54,42.4,if anybody can give the signifcance of any of these # with respect to the meaning of life, then it would be much appreciated. One must make the choices that lead to a better Universe, and that's all that can ever be asked of anyone. If you don't get up in the morning, the Universe will be the worse for it. |
Thomas (1820) | ||
| 161534 | 2003-07-20 09:23:00 | At the end of the book The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (volume 2 of the Hitchhiker's trilogy), Arthur Dent (as the last human to have left the Earth before its destruction, and therefore the portion of the computer matrix most likely to hold the question) attempts to discover the Question by extracting it from his unconscious mind, through pulling Scrabble letters at random out of a sack . The result is the sentence "WHAT DO YOU GET IF YOU MULTIPLY SIX BY NINE" . "Six by nine . Forty-two . " "That's it . That's all there is . " Since 6 x 9 = 54, this being the question would imply that the universe is bizarre and irrational; on the other hand, there is no proof that this was the actual question . After all, Arthur Dent comprised only a minuscule fragment of the vast and complex computer matrix that was the Earth, and besides, it was stated that the computer's run had not finished when it was destroyed . In addition, Arthur and Ford realized that the original ape-like inhabitants of Earth were displaced by the Golgafrinchans, which could account for the irrational nature of the question in Arthur's mind (as he himself is a descendant of the Golgafrinchans) . However, it was later pointed out that 6 x 9 = 42 if the calculations are performed in base 13, not base 10 . |
godfather (25) | ||
| 161535 | 2003-07-20 09:28:00 | Ahhh,thank you.I must get the second book now(although you have just spoilt the ending for me ;>) Sounds as good as the first. Peter |
Peter Coleman (597) | ||
| 161536 | 2003-07-20 09:33:00 | I think with the answer so aptly put,that we will all sleep better tonight,the question remains,what is the piont of getting up in the morning?or do we think Arthur's answer does the trick? | Thomas (1820) | ||
| 161537 | 2003-07-20 09:34:00 | Actually DD, I think the learned Doctor was probably correct, having inadvertently tripped over one of life's least understood and most seriously suppressed areas of knowledge . I will probably be ostracised by the Keepers of the Truth for elucidating the good Doctor's theory, but it is time the real truth came out of the closet for the benefit of all MANkind . There are three commonly accepted dimensions, but the fourth is the poorest understood and many of us only achieve enlightenment at the very end of our days . It is responsible for the most fraught and bewildering experiences MANkind can suffer, and suffer is indeed the operative word . The fourth dimension is that exclusively occupied by the thoughts and reasoning of WOMANkind, and yes, I see the metaphorical scales falling from your eyes as I write . Gentle reader, this dimension is responsible for those eerie "out of body" experiences men suffer whan they do what their wife or life partner requests, carrying out their instructions to the letter, only to find that they wanted something entirely different, and life will never be the same again, at least not for at least 48 hours . I know I need not explain further, as even those who are not yet formally inducted into an associative state with the inhabitants of this dimension will readily understand what I mean . Actually, it is my theory that alien abductions are nothing more than severe psychotic incidents caused by the stress of straying too close to the boundaries of the fourth dimension, thus warping reality and causing the victims to believe that they have heard strange tongues and experienced unspeakable physical trauma when in reality they were sitting quietly at home trying to watch Friday night footy on the television . Remember, you heard it here first on Press F1 folks, I can't stop to explain more right now as it appears I haven't done something I didn't know I should be doing and Mrs T wants me to walk toward this weird blue light and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AAArr rrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh Ck#$rz B#44y O-|X |
Billy T (70) | ||
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