“How old are you?” we asked as we gathered at the Thai restaurant for a birthday dinner celebration. I was already debating between Red Thai Curry, that delicious explosion of delicate coconut and hot pepper spices, or the old standard of Pad Thai noodles.
“Forty-two,” he said with the same look that a child might have after just being punished.
I locked eyes with another friend across the table, and a huge smile lit up our faces. In unison, we announced, “That’s the answer to life the universe and everything!”
“What’s the answer to life the universe and everything?” said the birthday boy, now with a perplexed look.
“Forty-two!” As we said the words together, an inward smile and an outward laugh escaped us. “It’s the answer to life the universe and everything!”
We were both fans of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the science fiction series that begins with the destruction of the Earth in order to build a intergalactic highway. The main character, Arthur Dent, manages to escape as a hitchhiker. He learns that long before his Earth existed, a computer, named Deep Thought, was built to answer the question, “What’s the answer to life the universe and everything?”
And, yes, you guessed it, after many long years of deep thought, the answer was reported as “Forty-two!” Now you are one of the initiated. You have the answer.
“But what does that mean?” protested the people in the book and now the birthday boy.
Deep Thought tells them that they had only asked him for the ANSWER. They would have to build a bigger and more powerful computer to come up with the QUESTION!
The supercomputer built to come up with the ultimate question to life the universe and everything was the Earth….
As I think back to reading that novel, I remember the intense period of laughter when I learned the answer to life the universe and everything was simply “Forty-Two.” Some peacefulness came over me at knowing this. What the book really taught me was that the answer is not knowable… don’t worry about it! Relax! Instead of looking for the answers, focus on the questions.
I’m still trying to come up with the right questions to living a good life. The book never told me. And that bit of silliness, makes me laugh again.
Check out the science fiction classics by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
