Talk:Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything/Archive 1

message: I know what the article's trying to say, I think, but 42 can't be the name of a variable in any language I'm aware of. Not sure how to reword it, though. Marnanel 21:07, Apr 2, 2004 (UTC)
: The number 42 isn't used as a metasyntactic variable. It's used in a manner similar to a metasyntactic variable. Consider this JavaScript example: "var foo = 42;". Here 42 has no purpose other than to provide a meaningless initial value to the variable "foo".
: R Harris, Sep 15, 2004
It's used as a metasynctactic constant, of course. Shreevatsa 15:56, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Metasyntactic variable 

message: Note the CAPITAL letters
Answer to LIFE, the UNIVERSE, and EVERYTHING
LIFE=4 letters
UNIVERSE=8 letters
EVERYTHING=10 letters
LIFE*UNIVERSE+EVERYTHING=42=4*8+10
4 times 8 is 32
32 plus 10 is 42 right??
* And your point is? If this is an actual theory about the meaning behind 42, let me point out that you could have made just about any number you wanted that way. rspeer 18:17, 3 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Letters 

message: Wasn't there something about a pun on fourty - two (for tea two) - tea for two? Adams was a tea fan, tea for two was a suitable attitude to take to the universe? Not sure about this.2toise 10:41, 23 Oct 2003 (UTC)
replies: text: Check the external link on this article to see Douglas Adams saying that it was not. - Jugalator 01:25, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  For tea, two 

message: This is kind of interesting.  6 x 9 IS 42, in base 13.
User:droth6
:The article mentions that (and cites Adams saying it's not the reason). Marnanel 15:12, May 17, 2004 (UTC)
:6 x 9 in base 13 IS NOT "forty-two", it's "FOUR-TWO". The same way it's not "twenty-A" in hexadecimal, it's "two-A". So this "base 13" theory is way off. [Dan] 17:38, August 13, 2005 (UTC)
::And why is it "fifty-four" instead of "five-four" in base 10, then? Just because that base happens to equal the number of appendixes at the end of our hands? — JIP | Talk 13:20, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually yes. I remember Adams being quoted saying something in the bases of "one does NOT make jokes in base 13" anyways, so this is way off. --Lacrymology 03:41, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  this is "fifty-four" in base 10, because 10 is "ten", and "-ty" means "base 10) (At my opinion). Nimportnawak 16:16 GMT+1 11 December 2005
Base 13 and deck of cards
In Adams' conscious thought it was just a number plucked out of the air.  But who knows the way of the subconscious?  He knew he had to come up with an answer to the question so may have subconsciously thought about it for quite a while. The connection between 42 and a deck of 54 cards (which I've posted in the Wikipedia) is just too strong to dismiss.  
Many a person has had a profound conscious thought that has seemed to spring from no-where.  Every creative person has been asked where their ideas come from - and all say many ideas just pop into their head. Many people looking for a solution for a problem have "slept on it".  Many scientists see an answer but then have to figure out how. 
I believe it's quite acceptable that even Adams thought it was just a number but in reality his sub-conscious was providing him the "desk of cards" answer to the meaning of life.
(As a sometime writer myself, I do find that I get story ideas "out of no where", that clearly have come from some subconscious thought process.  It's quite freaky and exhilarating when it happens)
So, for example, put yourself in Adams' shoes... 
I am writing a story, and it will reveal the meaning of life.  Should I use some old cliches like "Life is what you make it" or "Life is like a deck of cards" etc etc?
(Now the idea of the deck of cards has been planted in his subconscious)
No, no, too bland. Want something quirky.  How about a number? Hmmm... 
(Subconscious thinks cards... 54... 4 suits plus 2 jokers... 4.. 2... 42)
 
I know... 42!
(Subconscious then throws in the 6x9 reference just for good measure)
So, in the greatest of ironies, Adams, who thinks he's outsmarting us, is outsmarted by his subconscious.
--ChrisOz 01:53, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

text: As I recall, the story of 42 was that Adams and John Lloyd sat down and for about three days considered a whole load of numbers to try and figure out which was the funniest possible number to use, and they eventually decided it was 42.  He didn't pluck it out of thin air, although at this point in time he was practically writing the radio series week-to-week with no plan.  He knew he was going to reveal what the Answer was, and that it was going to be a number, and so (in keeping with his writing style, where although he was writing week-to-week he wrote and then re-wrote and re-wrote and re-wrote every episode to make it absolutely as funny as possible) he sat down with John Lloyd to make sure that not only was the concept funny, but the number itself would be as funny as possible.  It wasn't something he just suddenly thought of one day.
(By the way, my information comes from the BBC documentary about DNA and the Hitchhiker's story that was produced shortly after he died.)  Hig Hertenfleurst 17:58, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually that's only Griff Rhys Jones getting it wrong. Adams himself said in an interview that 42 was a funny two-digit number that had come up for one of John Cleese's Video Arts training films, so Adams re-used it. From the versions I've read, Lloyd had NOTHING to do with picking out '42'. --JohnDBuell | Talk 17:51, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Base 13 

message: There are 42 laws of Cricket.  Given the relation of that sport to later matter in the book, and the way that it arises, this seems an awful coincidence.  Given his apparent distaste for the game, this may have been an injoke, but there is also the distinct possibility that Douglas Adams was unaware of this also.
"But that's not cricket!" *cough* Sorry. There DOES exist a radio interview, available on CD, where Adams FINALLY admitted that his influence was John Cleese, who'd tried to work out a 'funny number' for one of his Video Arts training films in the 1970s. Adams admits he didn't remember if 42 WAS the number Cleese arrived at, but thought that was it, and included it. What most people miss by fixating ON 42 is the more subtle joke that the ENTIRE Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, can, according to Deep Thought at least, be boiled down to ONE two-digit positive even number. --JohnDBuell 02:43, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cricket 

message: I removed the C++ version of the programmer's joke, because it essentially doesn't add anything to the joke, and wasn't explained as being a C++ version of the joke; it was simply pasted in after the C code.  Someone unfamiliar with C/C++ might not be able to tell that the two aren't actually just one big program, thus further confusing them when they attempt to decipher the code.
Furthermore, while I'm not too fond of C++, there's nothing very C++-ish about the version added here.  Sure, it uses iostream for output, but I/O is not the joke here: SIX * NINE is.  In order to have the same effect, the C++ code essentially is using its C underpinings -- in other words, minus the cout bit, this code is really just C.  A C++ programmer would have prefered a const declaration.
Also, C++ was never mentioned.  Like I said before, there is no way for a
non-programmer to know that this was C++.  We could add a little heading, but given the above, is it really worth it?
As a disclaimer, I added the C code bit back in Feb '02, under a different IP.
:"const int foo = 5 + 1;" would just result in a const int with a value 6, and it would indeed be logical instead of textual. It doesnt really matter though, only one language is necessary, but would C++ be more readable? 'cout << "What you get if you multiply six by nine:" << SIX * NINE << endl;' might be more readable than the printf-syntax. --kooo 22:53, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)
RalphB 2005-04-08 09:50 CET:
The C code is a good joke, but could someone please add a page number & edition to the "C Programming Language" reference, because I can't find this code in either my 1st or 2nd editions.  Thanks.
:I think the statement is a bit ambiguous. "The following code in the C programming language" could mean either literally writtien in the book series itself, or just writtien using the language. I believe the author means the language. Perhaps a rephrasing to "The following code, written in C," or "The following code (in the C programming language)". Also, I think there should be a mention (but not an addition to the actual code) that a more accurate version of "Deep Thought" could be made by adding a sleep(236520000000000); to the code. Splarka 01:18, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I Use TURBOC 2 is OK. :P 67.15.34.248 07:49, 21 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  C++ code? 

message: I figure the only thing thought of so far that can possably work is "pick a number, any number" in the form of a question. If any of the others were correct, the universe would cease to exist. I fugured out a way to explain this. If there are an infinate amount of numbers and an infinate amount of universes, every universe can be assigned to one and only one number, and vise versa. Using this system, by picking a number, any number, you would end up with a specific universe. By this system, forty-two ends up with this universe. Daniel 23:04, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Pick a number, any number." 

message: Mabey the question of life, the universe and everything is "what is the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything?" Another way of saying that is "what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'what is the answer to 'are you still reading this?''" Daniel 21:54, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: What is the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything?

message: I'm not familiar with Adams' works at all, but the "Oh, yes, I could have told you that" section that was created [] by anon user 152.163.100.11 sounds bizarre to me. Could someone with knowledge on "The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything" have a look at it? If the information contained in that section is indeed correct, I think it would be a good idea to change its heading in order to make it more explicit and comply with the Wikipedia guidelines. Thank you. --Audrey 00:08, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  About the "Oh, yes, I could have told you that" section 

message: I think too many things have made it onto this page.
E.g., a recent addition stating that Jesus was the 42nd generation is perhaps an interesting piece of trivia, and might go onto the page 42 (number). But what is it doing here? Does anyone seriously see it as a possible reason why Douglas Adams chose the number 42?--Niels Ø 18:50, Apr 28, 2005 (UTC)
* I just purged most of them. All the stupid theories, numerology, puns that don't even work, and "OMG 42 is in this book too!" items made a mockery of Wikipedia's standards. RSpeer 04:11, May 7, 2005 (UTC)
::Thanks for that. I agree about the standards bit, but sometimes I get tired of deleting the stupid crap that people keep adding on a daily basis. If you want, you could watch fuck and nigger as well, since they also seem to be magnets for everybody's two cents. --Yath 09:11, 7 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  What is relevant, and what is not 

message: Does anyone else find it amusing that the the answer to the basic question is shining from the image  right next to the spoiler warning? 62.245.66.40 01:25, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Spoilers? 

message: The "Miscellany" section just encourages random two-centage. Of the four facts left in it, one (Doug's actual reason for choosing 42) was mentioned in a more accurate form earlier in the article, and the rest aren't particularly interesting. Why don't we just remove the section? (I do think the comment is useful, and should remain to discourage two-centage on the page in general.)
Some day, the "Story lines" section will need to be reorganized, too. It's rambling and has an extremely vague title.
RSpeer June 30, 2005 22:40 (UTC)
:I vote: no — trash it. —kooo July 1, 2005 14:03 (UTC)
—Second this.  Consider for example the after-effects of the slashdotting of a popular article about number theory where a fairly technically defined number is conjectured to be 42. —WLior 23:51, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Do we need the "Miscellany" section at all? 

message: Like all writers of surreal fiction, Adams has some indebtedness to Lewis Carroll. It may or may not be a coincidence that 42 was Lewis Carroll's favorite number - see 42 (number).
Does this comment really add anything? All the rest of the theories are gone, isn't this just another theory? Loggie 14:56, August 12, 2005 (UTC)
:I'd say yank it. I could make a point about 42 popping up in things like Rocky and Bullwinkle, which would be even more rediculous. The only proven Carroll connection is Geoffrey Perkins convincing Adams to use "Fit" instead of "Episode", coming from "The Hunting of the Snark." --JohnDBuell | Talk 17:56, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Lewis Carroll section

message: Now, assume a = 1, b =2 [a = 1st letter, b = 2nd letter of the alphabet] and so on.
Hence forth,
f = 6
e = 5
m = 13
a = 1
l = 12
e = 5
Now if we add up these numbers we get this sentence: 6 + 5 + 13 + 1 +12 + 5 = 42
and so, The Meaning of Life is equal to the sum of female(s).
TheSeer 00:14, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  The answer is quite simply... 

message: Google knows the answer:  see here http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=answer+to+life+the+universe+and+everything
Similarly, just insert "answer to life the universe and everything" without quotes into Google and hit search.  Maybe we should include a reference to that as part of the pop-culture aspect of the answer?
:This is already noted in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy cultural references. --JohnDBuell | Talk 14:35, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Google Calculator 

message: Actually that's not a bad one. I'm wondering though, if I should rip the part from the 1998 interview in the H2G2 collector's CD set from the BBC where DNA says that the idea was inspired in part by John Cleese using 42 as a funny answer in a Video Arts film, convert it to .ogg and claim fair use? :P --JohnDBuell | Talk 12:00, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I removed it from the article, it conflicts with what Adams has said. It was already removed earlier if I remember correctly. —kooo 15:33, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dice Theory? 

message: As I recall it, Arthur draws random letters from a sack and it turns out to spell "what do you get if you multiply six times nine". Then there are just no more letters, there is no indication that this was indeed the complete question.
:Which is part of the whole point. Ford, Arthur and the Golgafrinchans (Golgafrinchams?) arriving on Earth, killing off the cavemen (probably with some disease for which the cavemen had no immunity, though this is never said) and replacing them screwed up the whole dang program. --JohnDBuell | Talk 22:38, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: About the scrabble joke, one thing that is not mentioned is the lack of the letter Q, which is definitely included, as references are made to its existence in "Exquisite on a triple word score." Perhaps I am the only person who has noticed this, but I cannot really see any reference to this here, and it deserves to be mentioned. --The1exile 21:33, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: "Exquisite on a triple word score?" I don't see the relevance to Q in this joke, and what's your point of reference for that quotation? --JohnDBuell 00:20, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The only mention of "Q" I know of is that it was thrown into a bush, killing a rabbit which polluted the water and poisoned a girl who Ford rather liked. IainP (talk) 13:14, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Let me explain. "Exquisite on a triple word score" proves the existence of the letter Q in the scrabble set. If the letter Q is thrown into a bush, kills a rabbit pollutes the water etc. then this is definitely not the entire question; see the first comment in this section. --The1exile 19:15, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think it was ever implied that Arthur was pulling out ALL of the letters from a scrabble set to generate the question - where is 'Z' then? In the TV series, Arthur only uses those letters that had not already been used in his game with the "caveman." --JohnDBuell 19:29, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It is implied; in the book after the question has been spelled out ("what do you get if you multiply six times nine") Ford asks what comes what other letters are there, and Arthur replies that there aren't any more. Thus, this implies that Arthur has actually pulled out all the letters to generate the question. And also, I have not seen the TV series, I was not born then! --The1exile 17:32, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: My point still stands, 'Z' was never used (and what about the blank tiles, if we're going to get pedantic? :) I think we're reading a bit too much into the joke here, and I don't think it needs to be brought up in the article. - The TV series is readily available on VHS or DVD, many libraries have copies. --JohnDBuell 17:37, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes your point still stands, and it is exactly the same point as I was trying to make with Q. Don't add it into the article; I brought it up to prove the person who first added this section right, that this is not the full question. And I think I will just stick with the books for now, they are easier to find. --The1exile 17:54, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: THAT is precisely the point - it's not the full, correct question, nor was it meant to be. It's an error, a misleading one, and above all, another joke. This is pointed out, with other interpretations in the article. :) --JohnDBuell 18:01, 1 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  The scrabble joke 

message: I think "42" should be mentioned in the intro, as it is a very important p[art of this article. It can't really be considered a spoiler since it is so commonly known. Also, there is a big picture showing 42 anyway. --Apoc2400 07:29, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: But that graphic was moved DOWN to its present position, precisely because it was/is a spoiler for some folks. --JohnDBuell | Talk 11:42, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: since I can't get this verified elsewhere, does anyone know if the scrabble board used is 13x13? I heard that somewhere but it would be nice to know if its true or not (reference to the base13 thing) --HTL2001 (Talk|Contrib) 17:21, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It's hard to tell in the TV version, partially because the board is rounded on its edges (made to look like it was carved in a tree stump), and partly because the actors' heads obscure it, but it looks like 15x15 to me (which is the size of a standard Scrabble board). --JohnDBuell 04:14, 12 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  42 should be in the the intro 

message: I was brought up with the radio series of the hitch hikers, and the subsequent TV series, and I always was amused by the whole concept of 42. It was some years later while I was ironically travelling around, that I reached into my backpack and took out my copy of the I-Ching. This book contains 64 items of wisdom which inferior man uses for divination, whereas the wise take it for exactly what it is, a book of wisdom. So this book has a limited number of answers, but an infinite (or what may appear as infinite from our finite position in the space time continuum) number of questions. Thus when one understands the 'cosmic' forces that brings us to ask questions; our lives, socialisation, opinions, and of course position in space and time. In one of Adams' later books containing a character 'Dirk Gently' who does in fact refer to the I-Ching, so the book was known to Adams. If one looks in the book the number 42 corresponds to the hexagram 'increase' which has the measning thus,
'Wind and thunder: the image of Increase.
Thus the superior man:
If he sees good, he imitates it;
If he has faults, he rids himself of them.' 
It may well be that Adams knew of this connection, he may not have. As I ponder the number 42 and the base 13 'joke' I cannot help of thinking of qabbalah wherein 13 has deep significance, its double 26 also being deeply significant. Personally I like to consider the number 42 in base 16, certainly a base from beyond our stellar system. Surely this hexidecimal number by the decimal has a deep significance to people who know and as The Book says 'Can those who know be compared to those who know not?'
--Nehustan  00:40, 9 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Some thoughts on 42 

message: a mistake was made on the page.
In later books earth was not actualy distroyed. on the page it said that we might know the real question had earth not been distroyed.
Was it? I thought "so long and thanks for all the fish" and "Mostly harmless" were about the alternate universe in which differant things happen such as: What if Trillian did not go with Zaphod? What if the world Had Not blown up? etc.
::The "Earth" that Arthur returns to in the fourth book is much like the original, only his house had been restored as well. It's revealed that the Dolphins led a "Save the Humans" campaign and got that Earth put back. Arthur meets Fenchurch there, but in Mostly Harmless they never make it back, Arthur just finds himself on a series of parallel Earths, including one called "NowWhat." --JohnDBuell 18:36, 21 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  error 

message: The fact that the answer and the question can't coexist is a riff on Goedel's theorem.
:Had a search and Wikipedia prefers the name/spelling "Kurt Gödel", but if you think it's relevant... add it in somewhere! :) IainP (talk) 22:33, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: That's probably the only semi-relevant suggestion I've seen made on this page in a while ;) --JohnDBuell 01:11, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Eek! obIrrelevant - it's cold this morning. Should we make the page "bluer" to reflect this? ;) Actually, I was just wondering if the Gödel reference was something DNA had ever brought up, or if the whole "Answer" thing is just a coincidental example of his theorem. But I'm sad like that. IainP (talk) 08:25, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Goedel 

message: Apparently, Douglas Adams' first Monty Python appearance was on episode 42 of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Maybe that has something to do with something...   Klixovann 17:05, 20 December 2005
:Yep, it was a complete coincidence. The story about Cleese giving Adams the idea for '42' as the funniest two-digit number would have happened after that episode was recorded as well. --JohnDBuell 23:50, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Knowing Marshall (thought not personally, but judging from what I've read about his sense of humor), and hearing the clips included on Douglas Adams at the BBC it was more likely a parody than a tribute or homage. --JohnDBuell 00:09, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Monty Python 

message: If you consider that computers think in binary, and that grouping the binary bits in groups of 4 is the basis of hexadecimal, one can truly understand the significance of "42". You have 4 fingers on each hand (not counting your thumbs), so each hand of fingers is a hexadecimal digit. Now looking at your two hands, manipulate your fingers to form "42hex". It is clear to me, from this excersise, that the computer was highly annoyed by the question, and was flipping the mice off.
Frank Cosentino
Bothell, Washington
:That utterly and totally misses the point of the joke. The first aspect is that the entirety of life, the universe, and everything could be reduced to a number. The second aspect is that it could be reduced to a humorous sounding two-digit even number. Any other 'analysis' reads FAR too much into the joke. --JohnDBuell 02:15, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Binary Thoughts 

message: "What's yellow and dangerous?" (a commonplace riddle whose answer, not given by Adams, is "shark-infested custard").
This could also be a canary with a machine gun, an exploding banana or yellow fever.     Me lkjhgfdsa 21:43, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not just shark-infested custard 

message: Perhaps it should also be pointed out somewhere in the article that 42 in the ASCII table is an asterisk, or splat (*), which anybody with a little technical knowledge will be able to tell you essentialy means "everything". Yes, it's probably a coincidence, but a fitting one at that. Cparker 20:33, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Please let's not add it. --Yath 02:49, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ASCII 

message: The reality is that Douglas Adams came up with the whole concept as a parody of travel guides. Surely he is a witty and intelligent author, but his point is simple and is not summed up by 42. The message from God is the heart of his tale - "Sorry for the inconvenience". The universe does seem to present some order to it - but that order has been written and rewritten so many times so that we can make sense of the universe for ouselves.
For example - Scientific classifications of animals, our limited understanding of the periodic table of the elements (and it's missing components), our constant and ever evolving notions about light, physics and other related sciences.
My point - there isno grand answer. At least not one that we can understand on this plane. We are meant to question, not to answer. "Sorry for the inconvenience" is the only thing 'god' could ever say to us. The fact is that there is no rhyme or reason to our existence, and it is this notion that Adams so cleverly delivers in what I would argue is one of the most amazing literary achievments of ours, or any time.
Jack — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.83.155.89 (talk) 19:26, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled section