When people say the meaning of life is "42", what does that mean?

Answer 1

When Douglas Adams was asked why he chose 42 as the answer to the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything, he replied, "It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story."

End of story fair enough, but the start of a debate for light relief. Could he have chosen a better number than 42? One thing's for sure, there are many worse...

Answer 2

It's a joke from Douglas Adams' series of Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy stories. A supercomputer worked out that the meaning of life was 42, but pointed out that the answer was meaningless without the question it answered, which the computer was unable to figure out.

Answer 3

"How many paths must a man walk?"

42 means whatever you want it to. Meaning that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is much more simple than you might think. It's a simple number meant as a joke. Deal with it.

And read the collected works of Douglas Adams for further references.

Answer 4

It is from Douglas Adam's "Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy" in which an ancient civilisation question the meaning of existence.

To answer this, they create a giant computer "Deep Thought" to calculate he answer, and it rreplies it will have an answer in 1million years.

1 million years later the people apporach and ask for the answer, which "Deep Thought" tells them they will not like, and the answer, to life, the universe and everything is 42.

Answer 5

It's a reference to "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy."

Answer 6

mmmm yeh go on "what does it mean?"