The answer is 42, but what’s the question?

People in general, but especially children, naturally tend to communicate by open-endedly stating problems in the sincere if misplaced belief that anyone within earshot gives a shit.

Suffice to say that as parents, one of our unsung duties is to remind our children that they’re not in fact retired millionairesⁱ with room-fulls of servants at their summary beck and call, and rather to remind them that living in a civil society requires proper manners and courteous engagement with others. Arguably the linchpin of this is the almighty question.

So rather than barking such nonsense as “I’m hungry” or “I can’t find my favourite toy” into the void, these little future world-beaters would be far better served by asking “Can I please have something to eat?” or “Can you please help me find my favourite toy?”. Indeed, when I’m personally barked at by my children, my most common rejoinder is “What’s the question?”

All of which brings us neatly to Douglas Adams‘ seminal classic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979):

“Ladies and gentlemen, the moment for which we have all been waiting, the culminating instant in millions of years of philosophical computation! Deep Thought is about to reveal the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything!”

“You’re really not going to like it,” observed Deep Thought.

“The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is… 42,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

“Forty-two!” yelled Loonquawl. “Is that all you’ve got to show for seven and a half million years’ work?”

“I checked it very thoroughly,” said the computer, “and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”

Y’see it’s all about questions… But where does “42” come from? Perhaps from base 13 jokes, perhaps from John Cleese jokes, perhaps from the outer triangles of Sri Yantra, seen above?

Though if we asked William Blake (1757-1827) about the source of such questions, he’d remind us that mankind’s inner conflicts must be resolved through imagination, rather than intellect:ⁱⁱ

The Imagination is not a State: it is the Human Existence itself
Affection or Love becomes a State, when divided from Imagination
The Memory is a State always, & the Reason is a State
Created to be Annihilated & a new Ratio Created
Whatever can be Created can be Annihilated Forms cannot
The Oak is cut down by the Ax, the Lamb falls by the Knife
But their Forms Eternal Exist, For-ever. Amen Hallelujah

1. Which I confess must be hard or at the very least confusing for them given that they’re treated to 6+ weeks per year of first-class international travel, big houses, high-end cars,  etc etc. Oh well! Tension is there to teach us about ourselves, and the world… we need not shy away from it. ↩
2. via (Milton, Plate 32) ↩