h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It is written that Deep Thought took some seven and a half million years to come up with the answer, 42. I found it surprising that when I searched for 42 in the Guide, I found no straightforward entries. So I posted the entry to which this conversation is attached.

Like so many descendants of Deep Thought's makers, other researchers have been trying to give 42 more meaning. I wish them well.

But looking at the myriad of "42" entries, I see so many humans in a maze. I do not see searching for answers as a uniquely human activity, not if one counts problems as questions needing answers. Many animals solve problems.

But one thing which defines us as humans is that we are always asking new questions. Even a dog may be infintely curious: what does that object taste like? What does that crotch smell like? But the variety of questions a dog or other creature might ask is finite.

Humans ask completely new questions all the time. Some questions are frightening: just how much energy could I release if I split that atom? How can I make that destructive force even more dangerous? (This last question does get repeated a lot, though.)

Others may be more benign: how can I make that child smile? How can I make a superior grilled pastrami sandwich? How much Guinness can I consume in one night before I lose the ability to ask for a ride home, and how many times can I test for that number before I lose my health insurance?

Well, what is benign and what is frightening may well be questions with too many answers to consider.

I see the need for an ultimate answer as a well-intentioned but misguided desire. An ultimate answer would settle things as it were. But that would frustrate our innate drive for more questions. All inquiries would end with "Why bother?" because the ultimate answer would mean that everything else was just details.

Sure, fewer inquiries might mean we would stop finding new and more noxious ways to kill each other. But I have a sad feeling it would not actually stop people from killing each other, per se, because people kill each other now for any reason and no reason at all.

So, I am content to let the ultimate answer be 42. As ultimate answers go, we could do worse. This one leaves a devil's trove of detail to explore, and scratches an itch all at the same time.

This would be even more profound if 42 was an irrational number.

OK, so we get the answer... what is the correct response from us?

Oh. I didn't know that...

O-kay then...Would you plewase explain that last post, Diversity?

Oops, I maen please.

All right... I understand that in the first few books it is revealed that the question is "what is 6 times 9" and that the answer is 42... that makes perfect sense to me. But what i don't understand is what te flying MP3 player had to do with it... and actually the unrounded answer to the Ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is... 42.10093726394836262151100990216730710460404166426964191681629326872658754745264536845367543746376258727227. Or at least that's what 6 times 9 really is.
P.S. I though i know all this, for some strange reason, i always fail in math class... i wonder why...

Could be that you leave your teachers behind, coughing and sneezing and having alergic reactions in your metaphorical dust, DyoxyriboNucleicAcid.