The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

At one time or another in our lives, and sometimes more frequently than that, we become preoccupied with the meaning of life. What's the point of all this? we wonder. Is life just a big test that we have to pass in order to get to heaven? Does failure send us to hell? What is failure, anyway? Say we never do anything wrong, but don't really stand out as great philanthropists either. Do we still go to heaven? IS there a heaven? If not, it doesn't really matter what we do because we've only got about 90 years of existance anyway. That's a sad outlook, I much prefer heaven or reincarnation. Unfortunately for me, I'm not arrogant enough to pretend I know what's going to happen after death, so I'm just stuck wondering.

According to Douglas Adams's fictional computer "Deep Thought", the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42. A bit silly, perhaps, but a striking point when you think about it. The answer could be anything because we don't really know what the question is.

"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, it's 42" 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."

Some of us get so caught up in looking for answers that we forget to ask what the question is first. Asking ourselves questions is how we really come to understand ourselves. It's a shame more people don't do it. I keep hearing stories of Lawyers and CEOs who reach their 50's before realizing they never wanted to be Lawyers and CEOs in the first place. Then they make huge life changes, become social workers, and get praised by everyone they know for taking 30 years to figure out that helping others is a rewarding thing. Maybe if they'd just asked themselves at 22 "hey, self... do you think law school is really right for you?" they wouldn't have spent 30 years doing work they hated.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those of us so good at asking ourselves questions that every question raises two more and it seems impossible to answer them all. The simple solution to this dilemma, of course, is to be the first to build a real time machine so we can try each path and go back if it doesn't turn out the way we'd hoped. Now I just need to figure out how "42" answers the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything: "how do I build a time machine?"