Many people wonder what Adams exactly meant by 42, the answer given by the supercomputer Deep Thought in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Why did Adams pick that number? Is there a connection to something the world doesn’t know about? Is the CIA and the MI6 involved in all this? Real aliens, perhaps?
On November 3, 1993, he gave an answer on alt.fan.douglas-adams:
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 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.
Later, talking to BBC Radio 4 Iain Johnstone, he explained that the number was chosen by none other than John Cleese as the punch line for one of his skits. The famed Python thought it was a funny number, and Adams borrowed it for his book, turning it into a recurring integer through all his work.
But that comment wasn’t the end of the mystery. Stephen Fry—a friend of Adams—also jumped into the debate, claiming that the latter explained to him why it was 42. Fry will not reveal the secret, but he says it is “fascinating, extraordinary and, when you think hard about it, completely obvious.”
Whatever it is, it sure has had a deep impact in geeklore. One example: The Allen Telescope Array—the radio telescopes system erected by Microsoft’s Paul Allen for the SETI program—has 42 dishes in honour of Adams. And in Lost, 42 is the last number in the sequence that has to be entered on The Swan’s computer, which is also the sequence picked by Hurley for his winning lottery ticket, and Kwon’s number in the cave. In a Lostpedia interview, one of the show’s producers confirmed that this was indeed a homage to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Personally, I don’t have a clue about what the hell it means. But I know that I include it every time I play Superball myself. Just in case. [Thanks Paul Cohen!]
matt
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 1:58 AMalso, its 1337% of Pi.
MasterCyl
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 9:24 AMI thought it was his favourite blend of tea, Earl Grey number 42.
Was he found to have written an article under one of his pseudonyms detailing how it should be prepared.
gargravarr
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 9:27 AMEvery time 42 is mentioned, people who know me well enough will reference Hitchiker’s in some way. Especially if I’m wearing my Thinkgeek 42 shirt.
Another Daryl
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 11:02 AMfor Australian rail enthusiasts, the number is 412.
I dimly recall the origin is a Stan Freeburg article on a satire of Dragnet “hit him with a 412″ “what’s that” “overacting” (my recollection may be inaccurate) Might have come from an old Mad magazine.
References to 412 are found in many places in Railpage and mile posts 412 and the time 4:12 are brought up in various coincidences.
Keith
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 10:43 PMI was 42 on 101010, lol
MrTaco
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 1:56 AMHe saaaaaays it came from nowhere… but that’s just his perception! The reason that was the number that magically appeared in his mind was because it IS the answer.
Dougally
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 9:06 PMI have also wondered about Adam’s meaning of 42 as opposed to its ultimate meaning in Hitchhikers, and I think I have an Adams-esque answer too.
I have found that 42 degrees Celsius is a very comfortable and terribly nice water temperature in which to have a shower in winter. How do I know this? Because that is what I set my instant gas water heater to of course.
And given Arthur Dent’s towel issues, I have always felt this explanation is just about right.