In the Douglas Adams story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a supercomputer named Deep Thought is programmed to determine the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. The computer works on this problem for 7.5 million years and finally spits out the answer: 42. But after all that time, no one could remember the question.
However, in the 45 years since Adams told us about the amazing computer feat, we may have figured out the question. The problem is that there are several, five in fact, fundamental questions about the universe in which the answer is indeed 42. Two are mathematical, two are astronomical, and one has to do with physics. Which one was Deep Thought deep in thought about? We may never know, but we have some good contenders. Each of the five questions are explained in detail at Big Think. -via Real Clear Science
(Image credit: Ben Gibson/Big Think)
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You're missing something. The premise for Deep Thought designing the Earth was because while it could provide the answer to the ultimate question, Deep Thought stated they didn't understand the question, designing Earth to provide that clarification.
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i saw the movie, still need to read the book
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