PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - can anyone confirm this answer?
Thread
:
can anyone confirm this answer?
View Single Post
8th Apr 2009, 16:19
#
4
(
permalink
)
exscribbler
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Yorkshire
Age: 80
Posts: 429
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
In the first novel and radio series, a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the
Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything
from the supercomputer,
Deep Thought
, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be
42
.
Unfortunately, The Ultimate Question itself is unknown. When asked to produce The Ultimate Question, the computer says that it cannot; however, it can help to design an even more powerful computer (the
Earth
), that can. The programmers then embark on a further ten-million-year program to discover The Ultimate Question. This new computer will incorporate living beings in the "
computational matrix
", with the pan-dimensional creators assuming the form of
mice
. The process is hindered after eight million years by the unexpected arrival on Earth of the
Golgafrinchans
and then is ruined completely, five minutes before completion, when the Earth is destroyed by the
Vogons
to make way for a new Hyperspace Bypass. This is later revealed to have been a ruse: the Vogons had been hired to destroy the Earth by a consortium of psychiatrists, led by
Gag Halfrunt
, who feared for the loss of their careers when the
meaning of life
became known.
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notable_phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy
Google is indeed your friend!
It could, of course, be the answer to the question, "How many more Typhoons will the RAF get?"
Reply
exscribbler
View Public Profile
Find More Posts by exscribbler