Life, the Universe and Everything

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I cant help thinking Douglas Adams brought this exact problem up ages ago when Deep Thought found the Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything. As Adams pointed out the answer is sometimes useless because the process (or the question) was incomprehensible to the "beings" who sought the answer. Then later when Earth is destroyed before the Answer is calculated he makes an even stronger point: It doesnt matter The answer gave occupation to the philosophers for years before it was discovered, it provided millions of years of purpose for the "mice" in finding the answer. And Ultimately the lack of the answer didnt matter anyway. Perhaps we can just accept the answer (knowing that it could be innacurate and keeping an eye out for indicators) and make use of it? Surely that is more worthwhile - it's something of a leap to completely trust th…

… fire to my hard work. But what can you do? To discount the future is part of human nature. Recommended reading: On the alienness of the immortal human: William Gibson's Count Zero . On the psychology of the immortal human: Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is good. The much shorter, ha-ha-only-serious version is the tale of Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged in Douglas Adams' Life, the Universe, and Everything . (Douglas Adams is one of those guys whose every throwaway joke encapsulates an entire series of philosophical novels.) On the "unquestioned human right" to immortality: Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light . You may have to read most of it before it becomes clear what I'm talking about, but keep reading. It's an awesome work.