What is Digg?103 Comments
- numptydumpty, on 10/12/2007, -6/+51you have a professor to teach you how to do collages?
wow... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27Now, we just need to find the Question ;)
Dugg like a Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. - JaytB, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Or use wiki (extract from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy)
For those to lazy to search for it:
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (published in 1979), the characters visit the legendary planet Magrathea, home to the now-collapsed planet building industry, and meet Slartibartfast, a planetary coastline designer who was responsible for the fjords of Norway. Through archival recordings, he relates the story of a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who built a computer named Deep Thought to calculate the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. When the answer was revealed as 42, they were forced to build a more powerful computer to work out what the Ultimate Question actually was, but their plans never come to fruition. (Later on, referencing this, Adams would create a puzzle which could be approached in multiple ways, all yielding the answer 42.) - rekrapt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19This really freaking blows my mind. I knew Adams was in touch with extraterrestrials....
- carguy84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14I understand exactly none of this. Time to read that hitchhikers book that's been in my bookshelf since the mid 90's.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+154 8 15 16 23 42
- rspeed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13You won't regret it.
Don't forget your towel. - stylesP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.douglas-adams/msg/d1064f7b27808692
Nothing more to say ;) - rspeed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Yes.
And by "yes" I mean "can't hurt." - zediker, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14Hey now!
Dont knock the collage!
*goes back to cutting pieces of meaningless paper* - coneil, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13You guys are thinking WAY too deep here. The only reason there is a trough in the Riemann zeta function is because Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked it there. The mystery is solved!
- piersy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I'm taking it 'peaking' your interest is a tremendously subtle pun on the reimann zeta function landscape?
- DrEbola, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12As a finished physics major, you better start liking math and start thinking bigger than "patterns." Quickly now.
- goettel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1000000000
00000001 1
00000010 2
00001010 10
00101010 42
Yes he denies it. He ruled :] - axiomata, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Ya, this is awesome. Not only dugg, but bookmarked. Gonna look into this more later. As a physics major, who no longer likes math except for patterns, this has really peaked my interest.
- Stockwell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Douglas why did you leave us so early?
And damn' it maths wise it completely makes sense.
Something I'll spend some time on tonight. Has gotten me thinking. - adolfojp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8* is also used as a wildcard in console and database queries. It means all, or better yet, everything.
- axiomata, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8The question is:
"What is the third moment of the Riemann zeta function?" - Flankk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."
- Shorties, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9See? Adams was smarter then anyone ever thought he was...
- dylanrjones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I wish Douglas were still alive. I'd like to hear his witty response to this discovery!
- zekezeke, on 10/12/2007, -7/+13You might want to throw in an English Lit. course.
"peaked"?
How about "piqued"? - drawkbox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Whats the probability of this, put it in the Infinte Probability Drive. 1 in 42. its the answer to the Life, the Universe and Everything.
- Argentice, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Adams was right, here's the proof....
42 = ascii *
* = multiplication
i.e. the answwer to life, the universe, and everything is "Multiplication" - CheesyPeteza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Am I the only one that spotted there is zero proof, or anything about what actually was discovered in this article? It is extremely vague, and very suspicious.
- TotallyAtRandom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Maybe when the counter reaches zero, we'll find out the Question. ;)
- drawkbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Your world is about to open up. Trillian, Babel fish, Ford Prefect, 42, etc it will all make sense.
- rspeed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I suggest you read the book(s)!
- Grimdotdotdot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Or watch the film.
Or the TV series.
Or listen to the radio show. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If prime numbers have a pattern then I refuse to belive in coincidence. Now someone give me a Guy Fawkes mask, I have some work to do.
- LittleOni, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Don't Panic."
- tommythetomcat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Thanks Jaytb for the actual helpful answer.
- Jolene, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3No! If we find out the question, the universe will end! Or...It could just start over into something more odd then it is now... Or that could have already happened...
- drewfer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Even Google thinks the answer to life is 42. Go to google.com and type-
the answer to life the universe and everything = - padrebuf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i can't believe how many people have not read these books. and you call yourselves diggers.
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Douglas Adams imagined the Earth as a giant computer toiling away at The Question... and lately scientists have been toying with the notion of the Universe as a computer. He envisioned the Hitchhiker's Guide - which bears an uncanny resemblance to Wikipedia. Now this.
I hope his other "predictions" come true - I've got some questions I've been wanting to ask the dolphins. - diggtard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+442 is prime because it's the third "zero point"?
Will I understand the mathematics of quantum physics if I read hitchhikers...? - crythias, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That's something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
- yensed, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9I just lost a bet with my collage professor :-p.
- devwal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Great article
digg. - johnsto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Erm, apparently this was due to appear in the April issue of the magazine. Make your own minds up whether you believe it or not!
- kickarse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2^^ lol...
Didn't we just have a discussion on this? - 1raZer1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You could have just used Google to find out this stuff.
Google "the answer to life, the universe, and everything"
or go here -> http://www.google.com/search?q=the%20answer%20to%20life,%20the%20universe,%20and%20everything
;) - emptymind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+242 isn't a prime number. The moments of the zeta function form a matematical sequence. The third number in this sequence is 42. The zeros of the zeta function itself generate prime numbers (that's the Riemann hypothesis anyway).
- alphgeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Rockintom99:
I was factoring 42 to its component primes (2,3 and 7) rather than finding all divisors. If I did that I would also have 21, 14 etc. - themulf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I watched a show about M theory and quantum physics. I try my best to understand the concept.
- pillfred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"all make sense," not so sure about that but it is a very good read. Don't forget about the "cave Incident."
- ThatGuyBob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2When someone finally figures out how to prove the Riemann Theorem, say goodbye to your encryption schemes.
For that matter, when someone finally builds a practical quantum computer... Same deal. - akhoslogos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Douglas Adams was great, but he didn't come up with "42". Instead, this kind of answer was achieved in the Dark Ages by Christians who did this kind of analysis of words in the bible by assigning numbers to letters. They added up a bunch of words with this method and somehow arrived to 42. But what really troubles me is that 42 isn't prime, and that article was all about primes.
- davatron5000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34 8 15 16 23 42
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