Meaning of life hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

What is the meaning of life?

• IN DOUGLAS Adams's book, The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, we are informed that the computer, Deep Thought, ponders over a period of 7 million years the question of the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything. It is widely understood that this machine calculated the total answer to these three separate concepts as 42. Thus dividing 42 by three, it can be deduced that the meaning of life alone is 14. This, however, can only be assumed if the ratio of Life to both the Universe and Everything is 1: 1: 1.

  Khairoun Abji (student at Luton VI Form College), Luton, Beds.

• IF YOU had actually read The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy you would know that the important thing was that the computer was finding the ANSWER to Life, etc, and the answer was 42. They haven't yet found out what the QUESTION was.

  Bridget Floyer, London ()

• WHAT WE do know with certainty is that we were not once, are now, and will not be again.

  Brian Mendes, Bromley, Kent.

• LIFE is a sexually transmitted condition with a 100% mortality rate.

  P Mellor, Centre for Software Reliability, City University, London EC1.

• LIFE is not a linguistic item and hence has no meaning. The question makes as much sense as 'What is the meaning of lumbago?'

  Graham Bryant, Nottingham.

• LIFE is an acronym invented by Mr Kenneth Baker: Let In Free Enterprise.

  (Dr) P V Youle, New Milton, Hants.

• MY OLD pal Plotinus has it thus: 'If a man were to enquire of Nature the reason of her creative activity, and she were willing to give ear and answer, she would say, "Ask not, but understand in silence, even as I am silent and am not wont to speak".'

  N J Crofton-Sleigh, Norwich.

• THE CONCISE Oxford Dictionary states that life is a 'state of functional activity and continued change peculiar to organised matter and especially to the portion of it constituting an animal or plant before death.' God knows (sic).

  Jeff Thirburn, Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

• LIFE has no meaning related to an external frame of reference, only the meaning that you decide to give it. It follows that any such meaning given is as valid as any other for you, and any change is also up to you. Have fun being Cesare Borgia on Wednesdays and St Francis on Thursdays.

  Brian Cattermole, Stevington, Beds.

• BEFORE directing the questioner to the nearest dictionary or his local priest I would strongly advise that this is a question not to be asked, unless rhetorically. History shows that individuals who asked this of themselves or others are prone to insanity, alcoholism or other addictions, even visions of religious ecstasy: none of these help in the least with an answer, only offering a temporary palliative for the passing of life while it is being experienced, or in providing hope for the hopeless. Matters such as destiny, happiness and other connected issues only complicate the question and should not be dragged on to the stage of reasoning. The greatest minds that have ever lived have not come near to answering this question; choose what eschatology you will for now. The chances are that whichever one you adhere to, we have all got it wrong (if only fundamentalists knew as much). This is a great mystery and long may it remain so. There is something a little dull about the prospect of knowing everything and our humble brains are not wired for that prospect. Life is for living, surely.

  James A Oliver, London WC2.

• ACCORDING to a BBC2 Horizon programme screened some months ago (not on April 1) the meaning of life may have something to do with the notion that the most important living entity on this planet, the Earth itself, may regulate various life forms within its confines in order to ensure its own survival. Thus, for example, although the sun is now very much hotter than it was at the dawn of life, the proportion of oxygen in the atmosphere has remained more or less constant at 21 per cent, any greater or lesser amount being catastrophic. This suggests some kind of self-regulating mechanism which may be provided by the gases, particularly from manure, of all living things. That would also explain various epidemics and natural disasters as Mother Earth controls the number of living creatures and thus the level and mixture of atmospheric gases. What the meaning of life is for Planet Earth is another matter.

  D Fisher, Maidenhead, Berks.

• A Monty Python film.

  Chris, Plymouth, UK

• To love yourself, to learn and to use what you have learned.

  Haldun Musazlioglu, London, UK

• The meaning of life is to make oneself better than any other form of life. Civilised society is therefore inherently wrong because it is for the benefit of many when each individual should be doing what they can to hinder others.

  Steven, Inverness, Scotland