• Question: what is the meaning of life the universe and everything?

    Asked by miri22 to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 26 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by hannahbegley, hannahisawesome, esme, littlemisstiger.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hi miri22 and hannahbegley,

      According to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series of books by Douglas Adams, the answer to the question of the meaning of life the universire and everything is 42. This was produced by the computer Deep Thought, the second greatest computer of all time. Deep Thought designed the greatest computer of all time, ‘the Earth’ which would give them the question to which 42 is the answer. Sadly it was blown up by the Vogons just minutes from completion of the calculation to make way for a space bypass.

      Monty Python, in the film The Meaning of Life ends with the annoucement that the meaning of life is

      “Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

      As for outside of literature and films, I think the meaning of life, the universe and everything is for us to all be ourselves, live our lives and make a difference to the world we were born into no matter how big or how small.

      P.S As you may now guess I’m a big Douglas Adams and Monty Python fan!

    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      42, if you believe Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

      Asking what the meaning of the universe is, is a silly question. You might as well ask ‘what is the meaning of sky?’. The universe doesn’t have to have a meaning, it just exists. The existence of life also doesn’t have to have a meaning, it’s just a product of billions of years of evolution.

      That doesn’t mean that anyone’s life has no meaning or purpose. But it does mean that it’s up to you to decide what the purpose of your life is! There’s no pre-defined purpose to the universe to give your life meaning, which means the purpose of your life is up to you. You could use it to do good things for people and the world. You could use it to help find out more about the world in which we live. The purpose of your life could be to live a happy life with a loving family.

      I find it liberating knowing that the the universe or life has no meaning, because that means that I get to decide what the purpose of my life is.

    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      hmmmm this is a hard one miri22 and hannahbegley,

      I don’t think anyone really knows what the meaning of life was (or we would all be doing it!). My person opinion is that we are just meant to try and leave the world a better place, why else would we be here? This could mean doing something amazing like solving climate change or curing cancer so something so smile as making someone else life better. Life is pretty simple if you want it to be so just enjoy it while you have it.

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