From cavemen and women to the most intelligent species on Earth, humanity has reached new
heights of development... 2 million years ago we first discovered fire and only some
days ago, another rocketship was launched.
Despite being able to conquer even the last frontier, which is space, there is a more
earthly dilemma we cannot solve...and that is the meaning of our own existence.
Surprisingly, when we found the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe,
and everything", we forgot the question.
Or so it goes in the famous comic science fiction series entitled The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
In the show, and later novel, the fictional supercomputer, Deep Thought, is asked to calculate
the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything".
Asking its creators to come back thousands of years later, the computer says that the
ultimate answer is 42.
The population is disappointed, then the computer rightly asks „But what was the question?”.
And no one remembered the question to the ultimate answer.
From here on, the general imagination has been sparked by the belief that the meaning
of life is 42.
Consequently, extensive research has been made and the results were not long in showing up.
The number has been composed and decomposed in various ways, but the conclusion most enthusiasts
agree on is that 42 is the result of 6 x 7.
Mathematically speaking, 42 is considered a primary pseudo-perfect number...
big words, isn’t it?
What that means?
In a nutshell, it means that the sum of the inverses of its primary digits
(which are 2, 3 and 7) is one.
Coincidentally, in the International Mathematical Olympiad, the perfect score is 42 out of 42.
There are only eight numbers of this kind.
Whatsmore, 2 also falls in this category.
Some of those who’ve dived deeper into the meaning of 42 consider that the number is
composed of three 2s: 2x2 2.
They say that 42 is the answer to everything because it represents completeness.
In a way, they might be right if we think about it...everything has only 2 halves, and
together they make a whole.
A smaller group also states that 2 is the number that symbolises the presence of God
within us (one's self plus God's presence equals two).
From this, they concluded that 42 could represent the second coming of Christ.
We shouldn’t forget about the conspiracy theorists as well.
They give us a grimmer interpretation: 42 is the secret code for catastrophes within
the secret societies.
For example, the Titanic was travelling at a speed equivalent to 42 km/hour when it collided
with an iceberg.
Mere coincidence or someone deliberatly wanted to cause the accident?
We’ll never know for sure.
On a brighter note, the famous line "Harry, you're a wizard!" is written on page 42 of
"Harry Potter and the Phlosopher’s Stone" book.
But here comes Douglas Adams to burst our bubble: „The answer to this is very simple.
It was a joke.
It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one.
Binary representations, base 13, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense.
I sat on my desk, stared into the garden and thought 42 will do.
I typed it out.
End of story.”
There you have it!
Bluntly said, there is no special meaning behind 42 or is there...?
If we rely on the latest discovery in Mathematics and the solutions to the Diophantine equation,
the meaning of 42 is just a very long series of numbers.
All in all, whether you chose to believe that 42 is indeed the answer to everything or to
give your life a whole other meaning is up to you.
In the end, we believe that life has the meaning you give to it, be it a number or a higher
purpose.
You see, we all experience the universe around us subjectively...the universe has no meaning
in itself, but the meaning we give to it.
So what is the meaning of your life?
And while you're at it, rejoice that the Earth didn't get destroyed in the search for the
ultimate question to the ultimate answer, as it happens in Adams' book.
With hope in our hearts for tomorrow, see you next time!