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Lunkwill
A supercomputer built by Lunkwill, Fook, and other “hyperintelligent pandimensional beings.” When Deep Thought is finally up and running, these programmers ask it if it is the most advanced computer in the galaxy, and it tells them that it is the second most advanced. The most advanced computer, Deep Thought says, will be the one that comes next—the second version of Deep Thought. Moving on, Lunkwill and Fook ask Deep Thought to tell them the answer to “Life, the Universe and Everything.” After confirming that there is an answer, Deep Thought informs them that it will take 7,500,000 years to come to a conclusion. This upsets Lunkwill and Fook, but it pleases Majikthise and Vroomfondel, two philosophers who want to continue arguing for generations about the meaning of life. After 7,500,000 years, Deep Thought finally reveals the answer to “Life, the Universe and Everything” to Pouchg and Loonquawl (ancestral descendants of Lunkwill and Fook). The answer, Deep Thought upholds, is 42. When Pouchg and Loonqwual express their disappointment, Deep Thought suggests that they don’t understand the answer because they don’t truly understand the question they’ve asked in the first place. To help them comprehend this question, Deep Thought makes another computer (the next version of itself). This computer is the planet earth, and it will take 10,000,000 years to explain to them the question they so desperately want to understand. In the intervening time, the “hyperintelligent pandimensional beings” live on the planet in the form of mice. Unfortunately, the Vogons annihilate earth five minutes before the conclusion of the project.
Deep Thought Quotes in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quotes below are all either spoken by Deep Thought or refer to Deep Thought. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 25
Quotes
“You want to check your legal position, you do, mate. Under law the Quest for Ultimate Truth is quite clearly the inalienable prerogative of your working thinkers. Any bloody machine goes and actually finds it and we’re straight out of a job, aren’t we? I mean, what’s the use of our sitting up half the night arguing that there may or may not be a God if this machine only goes and gives you his bleeding phone number the next morning?”
“That’s right,” shouted Vroomfondel, “we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!”
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Chapter 28
Quotes
“I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”
“But it was the Great Question! The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything,” howled Loonquawl.
“Yes,” said Deep Thought with the air of one who suffers fools gladly, “but what actually is it?”
A slow stupefied silence crept over the men as they stared at the computer and then at each other.
“Well, you know, it’s just Everything…everything…” offered Pouchg weakly.
“Exactly!” said Deep Thought. “So once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer means.”
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Deep Thought Quotes in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quotes below are all either spoken by Deep Thought or refer to Deep Thought. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 25
Quotes
“You want to check your legal position, you do, mate. Under law the Quest for Ultimate Truth is quite clearly the inalienable prerogative of your working thinkers. Any bloody machine goes and actually finds it and we’re straight out of a job, aren’t we? I mean, what’s the use of our sitting up half the night arguing that there may or may not be a God if this machine only goes and gives you his bleeding phone number the next morning?”
“That’s right,” shouted Vroomfondel, “we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28
Quotes
“I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”
“But it was the Great Question! The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything,” howled Loonquawl.
“Yes,” said Deep Thought with the air of one who suffers fools gladly, “but what actually is it?”
A slow stupefied silence crept over the men as they stared at the computer and then at each other.
“Well, you know, it’s just Everything…everything…” offered Pouchg weakly.
“Exactly!” said Deep Thought. “So once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer means.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
