What On Earth Is 42?

Do You Know The Answer?

Saturday, March 8, 2008 by Hankers | Discussion: WinCustomize News

It's been 30 years that Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has been broadcast on BBC radio and yet its most famous mystery is still waiting to be resolved. Douglas Adams died in 2001 without revealing the meaning of "42".

Stephen Fry, a close friend, and the voice of the audiobook claims that "Douglas told me in the strictest confidence exactly why 42. The answer is fascinating, extraordinary and, when you think hard about it, completely obvious" and "But sadly I cannot share it with anyone and the secret must go with me to the grave. Pity, because it explains so much beyond the books. It really does explain the secret of life, the universe, and everything."

So what do you think the meaning of "42" is? Have you read any of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7283155.stm
33 Reply 14 Referrals
First Previous Page 1 of 2 Next Last
HAPTORK
Reply #1 Saturday, March 8, 2008 12:55 PM
Never read his any book but I think he must have been joking.

sAARGe
Reply #2 Saturday, March 8, 2008 1:01 PM
well i think 42 means 42 ....     

HAPTORK
Reply #3 Saturday, March 8, 2008 1:23 PM
Now i m gonna tell you one thing which is confidential..
I chatted with him once and he told me what 42 is But sadly I cannot share it with anyone and the secret must go with me to the grave.
A few lines from our conversation...
****
HapTork: Hi!
Douglas: Hello!
HapTork: I plead you. Please tell me what 42 is? I m not gonna tell it to any one please.
Douglas: Its a secret. When I got 42 yrs old, I understood what this whole universe is. Whats the aim of our life and why we are here. 42 explains this all. The experien
****

So buddies Here I pasted three sentences(1st by me 2nd by douglas and third again by me) and the fourth which I didnt pasted was the answer by douglas and I cant tell you that.

bilbo1930
Reply #4 Saturday, March 8, 2008 1:29 PM
yeah I'm read all book, and really like those.
Adams have great ( but not really popular) humour.. so 42..
I think this answer right, because 'big brother' Google say that too!

Alternate Setting
Reply #5 Saturday, March 8, 2008 1:38 PM
As I remember it, Prak explained that the explanation for the ultimate answer and the ultimate question can never be contained within the same Universe...

The 2 would cancel each other out - destroying the present Universe and replacing it with something even more bizarre.

Consider this - a Universe in which Zubaz follows Jafo around with a spellchecker...

It's almost worth it

thomassen
Reply #6 Saturday, March 8, 2008 2:15 PM
Douglas Adams actually said that it was simply meant as a joke and nothing more than that. 42 was simply the first plain boring numbe he could think of.

scottish42
Reply #7 Saturday, March 8, 2008 2:22 PM
Everybody knows the ultimate answer is 42. But little chosen have information about the ultimate question. That is more important. I've red all of 5 books. I loved it. aaaeee... one more think: DON'T PANIC

Capili
Reply #8 Saturday, March 8, 2008 2:47 PM
he meant 42 is the awesomest number on earth its 7x6 and six is the devils number...... OMG 7 ate 9 !!!!! ZOMG!!! RUN!

Old_Crab
Reply #9 Saturday, March 8, 2008 5:04 PM
Really folks.....42.....thing about it....42....I've read all the books and have found the answer to life, the universe and every thing...it is forty-two. Really. The Answer to THE universe, life and everthing IS 42. So long and thanks for all of the fish......!  

The__Goo
Reply #10 Saturday, March 8, 2008 6:45 PM
sales must be dropping so why not spark controversy... it makes things sell.. and if it is done right it makes one immortal

DigitalCHET
Reply #11 Saturday, March 8, 2008 6:52 PM
Kinda lame that something like that can't be shared, would be a great legacy to leave the world. Make me think it's all just bollocks, or as The__Goo said, a marketing gimmick to spark sales.

Jafo
Reply #12 Saturday, March 8, 2008 7:10 PM
Like me....."Mostly Harmless" ...

starkers
Reply #13 Saturday, March 8, 2008 9:27 PM
42 is obviously the number of the bus stop where hitch hikers go when they can't otherwise get a ride.

Orochi79
Reply #14 Saturday, March 8, 2008 11:01 PM
because one is half of the other but its greater than the sum of its parts as a whole, pretty obvious

I.R. Brainiac
Reply #15 Saturday, March 8, 2008 11:16 PM
At the end of the first radio series (and television series, and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe book) Arthur Dent having escaped the Earth's destruction potentially has some of the computational matrix in his brain, attempts to discover The Ultimate Question by extracting it from his brainwave patterns, as abusively[6] suggested by Marvin the Paranoid Android, when a Scrabble-playing caveman spells out FORTY TWO. Arthur pulls random letters from a bag, but only gets 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." "I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe"[5] ”

Excalpius
Reply #16 Saturday, March 8, 2008 11:56 PM
It's just a random number to be FUNNY. Which is what he did best. Anyone who tells you otherwise is pulling your leg.

The__Goo
Reply #17 Sunday, March 9, 2008 1:07 AM
I think this article rather misses the point of the joke, which is that nobody actually knew what was the question to which 42 was the answer. "What is the meaning of life, the universe and everything?" is far too vague a question to have a meaningful answer. After the answer "42" was revealed, a new project had to be started to find the question to which it was the answer - but the question was never discovered. Douglas Adams was pointing out the foolishness of demanding answers to non-questions. Stephen Lowe Watson, Lewes
this maybe it, but tghe reason to bring it up again is only to further the pocket book, someones kid needs to go college...

wikdskilz
Reply #18 Sunday, March 9, 2008 1:27 AM
42- As in Level 42 = What is the meaning of life? = Survival

warreni
Reply #19 Sunday, March 9, 2008 2:12 AM
The_Goo said:
this maybe it, but tghe reason to bring it up again is only to further the pocket book, someones kid needs to go college...
I have a feeling the estate of Douglas Adams is doing quite well. The point was that this is the 30th anniversary of the broadcast of the original radio series on which the novels were based. As for 42, I think it's meant to be a mystery.

mschleisner
Reply #20 Sunday, March 9, 2008 11:49 AM
I think I.R.Brainiac has the answer to that question. Thank you to the great and wonderful man and as I bow to one of the greatest minds on earth to this date, Thank You. His books were insiteful and very good. I have my own ideas and could tell you but I too am very secretive about my answers to the universe and how we all got here.   They haven't come back to pick me up yet but ofcourse there has been a delay due to weather.

Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

  • Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
  • Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
  • Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
  • It's simple, and FREE!
Login
First Previous Page 1 of 2 Next Last

Home | About | Privacy | Upload Guidelines | Terms of Service | Help
Copyright © Stardock Corporation. All Rights Reserved.


web-wc01