digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

The answer to life, the universe and everything IS actually 42

news.com.au — Our galaxy weighs three times 10 to the power of 42kg - a number written as 3 followed by 42 zeroes, which has echoes of author Douglas Adams's fictional answer to the question of life, the universe and everything in his series Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 7, 2007

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

192 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • Jazzillion, on 10/11/2007, -13/+152Buried as inaccurate: The universe, life, and everything is not the milky way galaxy. In fact, it is not even 1/42nd of everything.
  • iching, on 10/11/2007, -32/+160Too bad he's not alive

    he would have gotten the biggest kick out of this.

    Now if I could just find my towel.
  • fuzzmeister, on 10/22/2007, -7/+111http://www.google.com/search?q=the+answer+to+life+the+universe+and+everything
  • peterkillion, on 10/11/2007, -7/+70that is bizzare - in a vogon sort of way.... it was the apes that completed the equation yes?
  • zeldalord, on 10/11/2007, -17/+70hahaha - Douglas Adams was smarter than he made out.
    that is sooooo cooool
  • TradaPIB, on 10/11/2007, -1/+43... And iching's post has exactly +42 diggs. Let's leave it at that.
  • danielbachhuber, on 10/11/2007, -11/+53My towel weighs .42 KG when wet. Weird...
  • AlphaSoulja, on 10/11/2007, -0/+39Why does it say weight and not mass?
  • Akaji, on 10/11/2007, -7/+45Or, you know, just happened to have a lucky guess. Or perhaps not so lucky - I mean, how many millions of measurements can we make? It's not at all unlikely that at least one of them could be 'related' (forcibly, through human construction) to the number 42.
  • toolsdrummer, on 10/11/2007, -4/+35very cool. however, it's the weight of our -galaxy- they're talking about. not the entire universe.

    still dugg.
    /ducks
  • freakk123, on 10/11/2007, -1/+31Somehow I'm not surprised.
    And yeah, I know it's only our galaxy, but have a sense of humor.
  • georgetds, on 11/08/2007, -0/+24I am not worried until the dolphins disappear.
  • mhweaver, on 10/11/2007, -1/+19Actually, it was w h a t i s s i x t i m e s n i n e...
  • FadieZ, on 10/11/2007, -1/+19dugg for Douglas Adams being right all along and pretending not to know
  • Owned1Up, on 10/11/2007, -7/+25Strait from an interview with him when asked on the origin, see wikipedia:

    "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. "

    Stop trying to make it into reality by saying...oh well if you divide the earths weight by 65.4 and take the remainder times a monkey it equals 42. Idiots.
  • Hayaemsay, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17It's not the mass of the universe, just the galaxy.

  • zubi, on 10/11/2007, -2/+18digg buttons arent toys.
  • Tsen, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13@Akaji:
    Heaven forbid we find something amusing in an absolutely meaningless way.
  • AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -3/+15I dugg it but I don't have time to talk, there are a bunch of monkeys who need to speak to me about a copy of Hamlet.
  • doronster195, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12Damn, I dugg it before I read the two replies under it.
  • gpmidi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11Guess its a very small towel.
  • Tsen, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10It was a radio series before it was a book. There've been so many versions of it...several radio transcripts, TV, books, movie. Though as Douglas Adams said, the books set the record straight once and for all. Or at least firmly crooked.
  • fullphaser, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10Wrong, the answer is 47 after corrections for inflation.
  • resplence, on 10/11/2007, -4/+13Way to over-analyze it.
  • mousy, on 11/11/2007, -0/+8Weight is measured in Newtons (since it is a force) whereas mass is measured in kilograms like the value quoted in the article.
  • sabach, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Perhaps someday both of your wretched selves will grow a sense of humor.
  • TradaPIB, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8The theory which states if anybody figures out what the universe is here for, it will be instantly replaced with something more bizarre and complex? Or the other theory which states this has already happened?
  • kcpwnsgman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8well, there was always something fundamentally wrong with the universe
  • Shorties, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9Fixed it
  • xister, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Yes, and while we're at it, I'd like to take a minute and bitch about how I hate the number 82. Wow does it suck! Stupid 82...
  • benmandude, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Close but no cigar.
    Mass= How much matter something has in it
    Weight= mass x gravity
  • artap99, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Because that is what the author wrote before he published the article.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6daniel has 42 diggs. I'm tempted to ruin it.....
  • TradaPIB, on 10/11/2007, -0/+642. Every time I haps upon this number in my day to day activities (school, net, checking the time) I am reminded of the great trilogy D.A. wrote. The number seems to pop up frequently (or maybe I am just aware of it blah blah) :)
  • jivemasta, on 10/13/2007, -1/+7Actually it would be +2, one for the -1 you added accidentally, and one for the one you intended to add. Learn math.
  • gann, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Although not accurate (and actually quite lame for some), these jokes about 42 are mostly harmless.
  • aquadoctorbob, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5When you say subliminal, you mean really subliminal -- the mice wanted to cut up his brain to get the question out. It was Fenchurch who had the ultimate question on the tip of her tongue but lost it just when the Earth was demolished.

    Oh man, now I want to go back and listen to the series again.
  • hardcle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I don't care. He knew the answer on a subconscious level. The same way Arthur knew the question.
  • zanvann, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I weigh 160 pounds.
    The meaning of my life is 160 pounds? =[
  • sourcemonkey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Yes, it's sad. But it's also sad calling people idiots when you use 'strait' instead of 'straight'.
  • EradicateIV, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Mass? Weight?
    Difference? Naaaaaa!
  • burgerpocket, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4oh, shut up and enjoy the joke.
  • MattS, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Thank you, Fuzzmeister!! I never knew about the Google Calculator doing that!! Nice add..
  • NiX0n, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Normally, I wouldn't care, because it happens all the time, but this time I'm willing to make an exception,
    http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5655/1337lk2.png
  • imran7, on 10/11/2007, -1/+542 in base 13?
  • d3lta, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4No, the meaning of your life would be;

    160/2.2 = 72.7272 kg = 7.2 x 10 ^ 1

    So the meaning of your life would be 1!

    Wa-hey singularity!
  • psiDevil98, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5hmm.... I wonder what ELSE he was right about?
  • MISDIREK7ED, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Why would you want to end ducks? What did they ever do to you?
  • Mikeropology, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4my house number is 42!
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 196 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.