I stumbled upon this, like actual stumble not the stumbleupon toolbar or the like. If you search for “the answer to life, the universe and everything”, Google and Wolfram Alpha will give you the result of 42.
This makes me very happy because I loved the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy books and they are by far in my top ten book list, speaking of which I should probably make one. List of books I’ve read, plan to read, etc. that would be fun.
But back to the Ultimate Question, I find it odd that an all encompassing question has an integral result. Not a parable no story and not even a noun experience or pursuit. Just an integer.
It makes life so much simpler than most people tend to make it. Granted this is a fictional story, but I hold the belief that the logic, humor and philosophy behind it all is one of the best I’ve read, and yes I actually have a small background in philosophy, including Plato, Rousseau, Rawls, Freud, Nozick, and a couple others.
In reality everything is simple, for any action or situation you have two choices. For actions, either do it, or don’t do it. For situations, either do something about it to try to change it, or deal with it and get over it. And that is really all there is to it. Just take two outcomes, weight them against your wants and needs and/or the wants and needs of other peoples that you value, and pick the ‘better’ outcome.
Given not everything works out as planned and most things in life require a bit of risk, and the way things are and the way thing should be often differ, but that’s life, and that’s what makes it interesting.