[REBOL] Re: 42 (Was Rebol Unity ??)
From: chalz:earthlink at: 25-Mar-2002 0:34
> > BTW, what is this "42 indicator" all about? I'm aware of 42 being the
> > answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, but... (funny note: my cell
> phone
> > number happens to be 4284. Totally randomly assigned.)
>
> Its a Douglas Adams joke.. somehow I never got into his work, so I've been
> wondering also for the past couple of days. Anyway I just did a check via
google
> and found this:
Heh. Yeah, I know. Hence my "answer to Life, the Universe and Everything".
The problem is: What's the question? ;)
> http://www.zootle.net/afda/mfaq.shtml#sect10
> <quote>
> What do you get if you multiply six by nine? (and other notes on 42)
Zootie? Hey, B5 fans out there? "Zootie! Zoot zoot!"
> It's an extremely tired discussion, though. The joke, when Douglas wrote it,
was
> simply that it was the wrong question for the answer (or the wrong answer for
> the question, if you prefer.) He has said himself "Nobody writes jokes in
base
> 13."
Well, as the ultimate computer in the universe figured out, 42 is the answer
to Life, the Universe and Everything. The people who created the ultimate
computer (okay, okay, the /mice/ who commissioned it...) were baffled, and were
told something like, "Maybe you should figure out what the question is, first."
> 42 is just a number. It has no significance in relation to any other previous
> uses of the number 42, as least as far as DNA always insisted.
> </quote>
Of course, Adams was also a perpetual joker. Take everything he says with a
grain of salt, that sort of thing.
