Mathematics, The Hitchhikers Guide, 42 and the Meaninglessness of Existence.
It is in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that the supercomputer Deep Thought posits that the answer to “the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything” is 42. The problem is that without the question to give the answer context, this answer has no value to those who receive it. The answer is in essence meaningless. So a second, larger, computer is commissioned in order to determine the question.”
With this in mind, I would now like to ask you: what is the answer to the following equation?
1+1=?
Most people, looking at this simple equation by its self, would say that the answer is obviously 2. Given the context in which the question is provided, however, most people would also assume that this is a trick question and therefore 2 is not the correct answer.
They are both right and wrong. The problem is not that 2 is incorrect. From one perspective, or base set of assumptions, it is correct. The problem is that this as the only answer relies upon assumptions which are not present in the equation its self. Looking at it from another perspective, therefore, there can be other equally valid answers. In this question, as with the answer to “the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything” in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, it is the context by which the equation is understood, and not the equation its self, which gives it a value.
