edjames@ucbvax.UUCP (11/04/83)
Even though he used the scrabble chits 2 m. years before the earth was destroyed, Arthur Dent was from a time when the experiment was NEARLY finished. Thus (by the book's reasoning), he still had the answer engraved in his brain matrix (?), which is why the mice wanted to buy it from him. --ed ucbvax!edjames
marla@ssc-vax.UUCP (Marla S Baer) (11/06/83)
The big problem which everyone seems to have forgotten is that the entire experiment was voided by the crash. The origional experiment called for the evolution of the caveman (at least that's the impression I got). Instead, a shipload of hairdressers, middle management types, etc. took over the planet and wiped out the cavemen. This leaves the probility that the final results, namely Arthur Dent, are not correct. Marla S. Baer !ssc-vax!marla
Morrill.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA (11/07/83)
Re: "Even though he used the scrabble chits 2 m. years before the earth was destroyed, Arthur Dent was from a time when the experiment was NEARLY finished. Thus (by the book's reasoning), he still had the answer engraved in his brain matrix (?), which is why the mice wanted to buy it from him." What people seem to forget is that the Golgafringams (spellings off by a mile but I think you know who I mean) landed on and populated the Earth while the cavemen died off. Since the cavemen were meant to be part of the programming of the Earth, and the Golgafringams were not, then the question to the ultimate answer of 42 which was about to be found just five minutes before the Earth was destroyed, was wrong. Therefore, the question in Arthur Dent's brain, which may have accually been 6 X 9, was wrong.
student@nmtvax.UUCP (11/08/83)
While attending school here I have run across many people who stated that 9 X 6 = 42 base 13 and understanding that this came from Hitchhiker which I had not yet read. Well I finially read the trilogy last weekend (No, I don't fool around with Science Fiction.) When I read the last (third) book it quite clearly stated that we could never know both the question and the answer at the same time. Remember in book two Authur Dent came across the question while playing scrabble TWO MILLION YEARS before the Earth got done calculating the question for the mice. Thus you can't consider this a serious question. -- Sincerely; Greg Hennessy ..ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!student
rigney@uokvax.UUCP (11/08/83)
#R:linus:-41700:uokvax:5400006:000:412 uokvax!rigney Nov 4 13:40:00 1983 But the answer was embedded in Dent's brain since he was part of the experiment. His travelling back in time didn't change that. Also, Marvin saw the answer in his brain, but didn't think anyone really wanted him to say what it was. Actually, it seems to me that the mice-experiment was screwed up by the arrival of the Golgrafrincham (sic) Ark B. Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!rigney ..!duke!uok!uokvax!rigney
john@hp-pcd.UUCP (John Eaton) (11/08/83)
#R:linus:-41700:hp-pcd:8200019:000:437 hp-pcd!john Nov 7 09:29:00 1983 We know that Arthur has the question in his brain patterns because Marvin saw it there. Marvin may have also seen it in Trilliums brain pattern. It could not be "What is 6 times 9" because if it was then Arthur would know both the question and the answer at the same time (quite impossible). Marvin must then know both the question and the answer. Perhaps that is what gave him his unique personality. John Eaton hplabs!hp-pcd!john
rene@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/09/83)
The impossibility of knowing both the question and the answer to
life, the universe, and everything is only a theory, possibly put
forward by the Hitchhiker's guide to increase sales.
"a devoted believer of the second coming
of the great prophet Zarquan (we know
exactly when he returns ...)"
- rene
--
Arpa: rene.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!reneciaraldi@rochester.UUCP (Mike Ciaraldi) (11/19/83)
"But the cavemen died out, which messed up the organic computer, so the question is wrong" (paraphrased) Ah, but the great pan-dimensional beings which look like mice to us have been conducting experiments on human for a long time, things like forcing them to watch the beings run through mazes, etc. Since the organic computer was so complex, it presumably incorporated such modern techniques as redundancy and self- checking. The mice have been on earth for a long time, and would have had ample opportunity to make any corrections to the earth/computer needed to compensate for all the telephone sanitizers and hairdressers who showed up and killed off the cavemen. After all, they were fairly close to earth-native (caveman) hiumans, so it might not be much of a change. Mike Ciaraldi Rochester