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*42*

Started by: jo anne (34699) 

If 42 is the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything ...

What is the Ultimate Question?

(From The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy)

Started: 15th Sep 2011 at 18:18
Last edited by jo anne: 15th Sep 2011 at 18:19:33

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

Is "What is the Ultimate Question?", in fact the penultimate question? Or is it the one that follows?

Replied: 15th Sep 2011 at 19:50

Posted by: jo anne (34699) 

I thought this would be simple, Priscus.

Replied: 16th Sep 2011 at 13:00

Posted by: --oy-- (1004)

The question is "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?"

The computer got the answer wrong

Replied: 16th Sep 2011 at 17:53

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

Only to be expected if folk will do continental sevens

perhaps it wurn't a question, but an instruction that got corrupted:

maybe it wur trying to say:

Do Sixty-nine to avoid multiplying

Replied: 16th Sep 2011 at 19:06

Posted by: veg grower (inactive)

Replied: 16th Sep 2011 at 19:27

Posted by: jo anne (34699) 

Oy - The computer got the answer wrong

Computer says, 'No!'

"input errors into the system — computing (because of the garbage in, garbage out rule) the wrong question" (wiki)

You could be on the write lines with continental sevens, Priscus.
I hadn't thought of that be four.

But, that statement is inconceivable.

It has to be a question!

Replied: 16th Sep 2011 at 20:16
Last edited by jo anne: 16th Sep 2011 at 20:18:19

Posted by: billy (26053) 

???????

Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 10:14

Posted by: veg grower (inactive)

I am lost too Billy

Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 11:30

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

Don't Panic.

Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 13:57

Posted by: jo anne (34699) 



Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 14:24
Last edited by jo anne: 18th Sep 2011 at 14:25:35

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

No excuse for being all at sixes and sevens now!

Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 14:51

Posted by: jo anne (34699) 

Fortitude is needed.

Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 14:57

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 15:21

Posted by: jo anne (34699) 

Dutch Courage?

This is double Dutch already.

Replied: 18th Sep 2011 at 16:18

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

Replied: 19th Sep 2011 at 21:53

Posted by: melodyman (116)

a = 1 + 9
b = 52
'Ultimate Answer to Life' = b - a


52 = number of weeks in a year, so not fascinating to use.

Influenced by Eric Arthur Blair's 1948

Replied: 20th Sep 2011 at 10:45

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

The answer is not in question: it is the question which is in question!

There are an infinite number of ways of arriving at 'Forty-two', but will be any wiser with an infinite number of answers to the question which jo anne asks?

Replied: 20th Sep 2011 at 13:10
Last edited by priscus: 20th Sep 2011 at 18:46:27

Posted by: ecmdj (8186) 

back to school for me

Replied: 20th Sep 2011 at 18:38

Posted by: melodyman (116)

Of course! There are many calculations which will produce the answer forty-two.
But! The number forty-two the author used was calculated using one simple method.

The ultimate question is based upon the emotional needs to secure an answer to replace a negative with a positive.

Replied: 20th Sep 2011 at 20:30

Posted by: melodyman (116)

For many people, the ultimate question is;

'What is the cure for cancer?'

Replied: 20th Sep 2011 at 20:32

Posted by: jo anne (34699) 

I hope that's answered soon, Melodyman.


The ultimate question is based upon the emotional needs to secure an answer to replace a negative with a positive.

I think my question would be:

"Why?"

which could possible take 4 ever 2 answer.


(I saw a beautifully decorated canal boat called ultima today.

I looked up the name and found it means:

n. The last syllable of a word.)

Replied: 21st Sep 2011 at 14:56

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

"Why": is usually the most difficult out of Kipling's list.


I keep six honest serving-men:
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Where and When
And How and Why and Who.


From "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling

Replied: 21st Sep 2011 at 15:29
Last edited by priscus: 21st Sep 2011 at 15:30:28

Posted by: melodyman (116)

Because we are human.

More complex than anything we have created and more emotionally vulnerable than any other creature we know. We seek answers to inconceivable questions and beyond. We fear the unknown and wish to know why we fear. We question life and we question death, yet we treasure neither and answer to both. We are rulers of our own domain and prisoners of our misfortunes. We are complex beyond understanding - an idiosyncratic mass pertaining to chaos.

We are human!

Replied: 21st Sep 2011 at 21:00

Posted by: elmos (2784) 


ein-stein got it wrong about the speed of light,
i knew that, now you know why i've been waiting
the hard questions to come on here.

Replied: 23rd Sep 2011 at 13:04

Posted by: jo anne (34699) 



There may be something that travels faster than the speed of light after all.

"If they are right, this could require a complete rewriting of the laws of the Universe." Brian Cox

It could be bad news.

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws" - Douglas Adams

Replied: 23rd Sep 2011 at 15:11
Last edited by jo anne: 23rd Sep 2011 at 15:14:11

Posted by: veg grower (inactive)

I like that Brian Cox - he has made science sexy IMO. I think it is the way he explains things - makes things very easy to understand - now, why were none of my science teachers like him?

Replied: 23rd Sep 2011 at 15:31

 

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