A Conversation for 42

Why is 42 the answer?

Post 1

Malken42

If 42 is the answer then what is the question? Clearly the question is, "WHY is there life, the universe and everything instead of Nothing?" The only answer that quantum mechanics, relativity, astrophysics, comlexity theory can offer is "It just is" or "It was just random chance". Philosophers and theologians can offer "Because The Creator made it", but of course that only shifts the question back another notch to "WHY is there a Creator instead of Nothing?".

If 42 really is The Answer (and I have my doubts about that) then the slightly expanded explaination of the answer is "It was just dumb luck." And if we are talking about dumb luck, is there any number more fourtwoitous than 42??


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 2

Traveller in Time Reporting Bugs -o-o- Broken the chain of Pliny -o-o- Hired

Traveller in Time smiley - tit flexing his mind
"Have you noticed the answer is in your number smiley - biggrin
< U7370468 >
73+ 7- 46+ 8 = 42 smiley - eureka You must be a true Researcher smiley - biggrin

< A530560 > 'The Myth of 42' "


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 3

AgProv2

The Number 42 bus runs between Stockport and Manchester via Didsbury (Manchester Poly)and the university. At some point on the route it passes at least one school of astrophysics (the one that owns Jodrell Bank)


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 4

AgProv2

So when Jodrell Bank famously failed to detect the presence of a Vogon Constructor Fleet and looked right through them, did the duty technicians and number-ctunchers go to work at the University that morning on a no 42 bus?


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 5

spunkymanker

The earth apparently has a diameter 42 times that of the moon and also the distance from the earth to the sun is 42 times greater than the distance from the earth to the moon!
spookysmiley - magic


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 6

Smij - Formerly Jimster

My old theory is that they ask a computer for the answer, so of course it gives a numerical answer.

Whereas the closest word to 42 in English is 'fortitude', which is an answer that makes more sense to a human.


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 7

Lucky Llareggub - no more cannibals in our village, we ate the last one yesterday..

In that incomprehensible metaphor for the world, the universe and everything, Finnegans Wake (Penguin Classics) immediatley above the number 42 are the words:
"mallardmissing on Rutland heath, exchanging cold sneers, mass-"

Rutland is obviously the answer. Now what was the question?


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 8

h5ringer

If the answer was not 42, the question would be wrong


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 9

Plebis -- Wielder of Swords, Sayer of 'Sodit' and Thingite Arch Recruiting Sergent for the Grand Warlord Clive the Flying Ostrich [back from touring the universe]

42 is the answer! To understand this you must not think of 42 as a number but rather a mistake.

First they asked what the answer was to life, the universe, and everything, and after many years deep thought gave them one.

First it simplified the question to what is life? The answer: life is the stage before death, therefore life needs an end, and to have life it needs a beginning. This usually takes the form of birth, hatching, cloning, etc. So a simplified answer that any being should be able to comprehend is that life has a beginning and an end.

Deep Thought then used the same reasoning with the other two abstract ideas, the universe and everything, and reached the same conclusion. But after simplifying the questions and answers down this much it also simplified its output.

The beginning and the End became the letters A and Z. Now how does this become 42 you may ask? Well it's really quite simple... sort of... not really. If you recall that I previously stated that 42 is not a number I will now elaborate on this. A and Z were put into Leet(L337)A787917, a kind of computer language (after all computers are just big calculators, and every one knows they work best with numbers).

So now you have a question for 42, and an answer to the Ultimate Question of Life the Universe and Everything.


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 10

Lucky Llareggub - no more cannibals in our village, we ate the last one yesterday..

It's neat that Rutland (see post 7) is the answer corresponding to 42 and therefore the answer to Life, Universe and Everything for Rutland is/was the smallest county in England's green and pleasant land. Not sure if Rutland still exists though.


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 11

Symphon

We can't know the answer and the question at the same time in the universe; if we did, the universe would be destroyed and replaced with something much more bizzare. Come to think of it, that's probably already happened.


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 12

Lucky Llareggub - no more cannibals in our village, we ate the last one yesterday..

Ah, maybe that's what happened to Rutland. Was it swallowed (gulp!) by Leicestershire...or something more bizarre?


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 13

Icy North

They flooded it.

http://www.anglianwaterleisure.co.uk/index.php?sectionid=53&parentid=47


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 14

Lucky Llareggub - no more cannibals in our village, we ate the last one yesterday..

They did too! Now it's a merely a lake and a cycle track.
As for the "first breeding ospryes" claim on the above link, I remember seeing a perfectly healthy osprey in the Cheviots, in Northumberland, some 10 or 12 years ago...a far more suitable and natural environment than Rutland I would have thought.


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 15

Icy North

Quite a big lake, too. I cycled around it once. Didn't see any ospreys, though. smiley - sadface

Nice part of the world - Geoff Hamilton's TV garden was nearby. Also, not too far from Stamford & Burleigh House.


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 16

pheloxi | is it time to wear a hat? |

why 42? may I found an answer!
F64903?thread=844950


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 17

Simetra

I think the basic problem is the numerals 42, if you write it out things become more clear

For Tea, Two ...... in other words the Answer to Life, The Universe and Everthing is a nice cup of tea for two, the Question is one lump or two


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 18

pheloxi | is it time to wear a hat? |

that sound like whale swimming in a bowl of petunias!



Why is 42 the answer?

Post 19

Simetra

I wonder if the whale would use a Brownian Motion as it swam, or if the petunias really cared, so many questions but only one answer to it all


Why is 42 the answer?

Post 20

pheloxi | is it time to wear a hat? |

"swam" it is not bunch of people talking nonsense!


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