Slashdot Mirror
Ask Douglas Adams About...Everything
Who could possibly know more about Life, the Universe, and Everything than Douglas Adams? Who, despite being Mostly Harmless, could give a better anwer to almost any question you could ask? Could you please post your questions -- one per post -- below? Could we pick 10 of the highest-moderated ones and send them to Mr. Adams by e-mail? Might we allow Mr. Adams a week or more to answer, since he's as busy as RMS but has kindly consented to talk with us anyway?
I remember hearing a few years back about a possible sequel in the Dirk Gently series. It was supposed to be called A Spoon Too Short, or something like that. Has that been scrapped? Is there any more coming from that series in the future? Do you have any other books that you're thinking about or working on?
Doug,
I was shocked and dismayed when a friend pointed me to the well-known dissertary explaining how your trilogy is actually a thinly-veiled exposition of your opinions on the Royal Family's homosexual leanings.
Can you please tell us if you've ever received any negative feedback from the press or gotten into any legal troubles over this.
Thanks.
It seems that you've been gearing your attention greatly towards the computer gaming industry as a new viable medium. You've been working extensively with The Digital Village, of whom developed the fantastic Starship Titanic, and broke new ground in the adventure gaming genre with Starship's text parser feature. Could you tell us your opinion on what you think the future of the gaming industry will hold and what Digital Village is doing to become a part of that? Additionally, Digital Village has been working on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Could you tell us a bit about what the game will be and what we should expect?
I'll skip any comments about the Guide, as they wouldn't make enough justice to the books. Instead, I wanted to let you know that I really, really adored "Last chance to see". You were able to talk about such an ongoing disaster like animal extinction while still keeping the humour. I can't help associating it with the other tragicomic masterpiece by my fellow Italian Roberto Benigni, "Life is beautiful", or Frank Zappa's last message to Steve Vai: "Keep the humour in music". I really can't picture life in this screwed-up world without humour and wanted to thank you a lot for making my life (and others' as well, of course) less miserable and a bit more enjoyable.
Anyway... I've been asking myself over and over what has happened to those species since the book was written. Did they survive or are they extinct now? I dream of a "Last chance to see again" book with more current reports about the aye-aye, the baiji dolphin or the kakapo. Are my wishes going to become true one day?
(at rudi (dot amiga com))
(*) I really am. I own the British, the American and the three different Italian editions for each of the Hitchhiker's Guide books, plus the tapes and the DC comics. I'm getting the German books now...
A towel was one of the things needed to travel
the universe. What do you think is necessary to
travel the internet? Umm... forget that. I
think we need a towel for that too.
Arrgh... He's already answered this in previous interviews. Don't make him answer it again. I don't remember the details, but it had something to do with staring out a window and having the number just pop into his head.
how about marvin vs. bender from futurama?
I was wondering if you would share some thoughts regarding your computer game Starship Titanic, which I enjoyed for a while but never finished. Specifically, how close did the shipping product come to your original 'vision' and what, if anything, would you have changed? Also, do you personally know of anyone who was able to complete the entire game unassisted?
Why the number 42 and not say, 666, 777, 3.14157 ..?
Fuck Ajit Pai
I actually own such a beast. It is a beautiful leather-bound edition of all 4 hitchhiker books plus the zaphod short story alternate ending thing, in one binding. It looks like a bible, with a "don't panic" guy on the binding, and a ribbon for marking your place.
I've seen it at Books-A-Million, Borders, and Barnes & Noble before, so I don't expect it's too hard to find...
WWJD? JWRTFM!!!
What's in the pipeline for The Digital Village? Another game, to follow on from the success of Starship Titanic, or something web-based, like H2G2?
Oh, and tangentially: are you still a Mac advocate after all these years?
What drink, commonly found on Earth, best approximates the effects of a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster?
_damnit_
_damnit_
It's my job to freeze you. -- Logan's Run
I've read that you're considering building a sort of PDA/GPS/net device that will be a "Hitch Hikers Guide To The Earth". How big an uptake to you expect? Do you think you can get it in a price range for the kind of person getting around the planet for less than five Alterian Dollars a day?
--Michael
It's just a number people!
Just wondering if stuff from HGTG has become more of a headache than you'd like from time to time, sort of like Leonard Nimoy and "I'm not Spock"
That said I caried a towel for a year in high school and they can be very handy.
-Peace
Dave
Free as in "the Truth shall set you..."
Did you ever toy with the idea of intersecting your different fiction universes? Say, Dirk Gently , while investigating some particularly strange case, stumbles across the Mice, or the Vogons, or one of the Heart of Gold adventurers.
A few characters (including Zaphod and Marvin) had spin-off adventures or songs written around them. What other characters might have deserved more attention, life, or merchandising opportunities?
Say -- if any of my vested stocks turn a fabulous profit, might I be able to rent Douglas Adams for a day? Would such an arrangement be sliding scale? For instance, $50,000 could buy me an evening of dinner and polite chuckling at my stupid jokes, but for a cool $million Douglas would follow me around all day dressed as a Vogon guard, loudly insisting that anyone who failed to recognize my Supreme Rule be tossed out the closest airlock.
Another thought: does whatever Douglas Adams may or may not do to get his ideas flowing impact you in any way? If you've already tried marijuana, or 'shrooms, or whatever, and it works for you, and you're reasonably well versed on the physiological pros and cons, and believe that the benefits justify the risks, then do you really need to be able to point to a famous person to justify your habit? Many famous poets and artists of prior centuries were hooked on laudanum (alcohol mixed with morphine) or absinthe or plain old alcohol: drugs I don't personally find appealing or stimulating to the mind.
I can think of one reason to want to know: many people I talk to are completely ignorant of the real effects (good and bad) of the common illegal drugs. When everyone I know speeds on the freeway, you'd think that legality would not be a big stumbling block (esp. in California, where possession of small quantities of marijuana or other drugs is the legal equivalent of a speeding ticket, and from stories I've heard, frequently the cops just dump it out on the side of the road and let you go on your way), but there's this persistent notion in the U.S. that "they must be bad or else they wouldn't be illegal" (of course the real reason they're illegal is due to early 20th-century political grandstanding and overt racism, but most people don't know that, do they?) Being able to say that so-and-so smokes pot, and in fact credits a good deal of his creativity to it (as with the late Carl Sagan), could advance the cause, but rather than isolated examples, what we really need is to "out" the silent millions who take recreational drugs and still hold down decent jobs. If someone set up a web page petition for people to sign with their real names and email addresses and that they smoke pot, and that it should be legal, and then mailed that list to every Congressman and posted it to Slashdot and CNN and the N.Y. Times, then that'd be a powerful force. Your Congressman isn't going to send the Feds out to arrest you: and they're certainly not going to arrest a million people scattered across the country. Civil disobedience at its finest!
--
Jake
Ok, the mice have their multi millenia experiment on Earth MKII... and this time, the Vogons go an wipe out another end of a distant spiral arm for their bypass. What do you think the final result is? Are we still a race that is obsessed with digital watches, and think that the towel is the most useful tool in the universe? Have we progressed beyond our current limitations? Basically, where do you see the human race as a whole going?
:)
Loaded question... I know!
Was the babelfish meant to be a futuristic herring-aid?
"Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
I got the impression in So Long that you were looking to get away from the whole Arther Dent & Co. feel -- and I felt that this was backed up in the extreme by Mostly Harmless. I guess it's almost a silly question, but I liked the characters, and am sad at the way they went out, so: Did Mostly Harmless do what you wanted it to? Was it an attempt to get the publishers off your back? Or were you truly sick and tired of the characters, themselves? Or something else entirely different?
Ooooooh I hope the internet oracle isn't reading that one or we'll all be ZOTted.......
Troc
Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
Wasn't the scientist being caught in the aging machine and skeletonised in Blake's 7? I remember very distinctly having the crap scared out of me by that one at a tender age.
-- Arm yourself when the Frog God smiles.
The Trilogy in Four Parts is available in one book, at least in the UK. I have the hardback edition sat on my bookshelf at home.
-- Arm yourself when the Frog God smiles.
http://www.h2g2.com/
-- Arm yourself when the Frog God smiles.
...or, Listen To The Fine Radio Series.
HHGTTG was primarily a six part radio play, then a double album, then another six part radio series, and another album, then a book, and another book, a piece of interactive fiction, and another book, and a towel, then a tv series, and a play, and, after a while, another book, then one last book, a book of the scripts of the radio plays, a six cd box set of the original radio plays (with a slight edit due to a failure to licence a particular track from Pink Floyd, ruining one of my favourite jokes in the series), and finally another book.
Oh, and a book about it all, but that wasn't actually by Adams(but rather by Neil Gaiman), but then the play was an adaptation by someone else as well (Ken Campbell?).
Only by absorbing all of the above material could you even begin to explain what it's all about, especially the bit about zaphods brain, and the small piece of fairy cake.
The precise number of books is undefined at this time. For a more precise definition I'd reccomend reading entry for Douglas Adams in the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, published by Megadodo Publications, and available in all good, and some terrible, bookshops.
PS My towel is currently in the bottom drawer, under the TV, in the bedroom.
1968 should read 1986...
Time Lord, Dark Horse: The Techno Mage of Gallifrey
Or did you just dislike John Nathan-Turner. :)
:)
Anyway [IMHO] Chris H. Bidmead (El Bid) was in many way a FAR better Script Editor than Adams if not as class a writer, so whose to complain.
Be Seeing You,
Jeffrey.
Time Lord, Dark Horse: The Techno Mage of Gallifrey
'Doctor Who' ran near-continuously (except for an 18-month hiatus in 1968) for 26 seasons. Adams first wrote the 'Key to Time', Season 16 episode 'The Pirate Planet' under Producer Graham Williams and Script Editor Anthony Reed. Anthony Reed quit after Season 16 and only 8 stories and Adams was hired as script editor for season 17 under producer Williams. During that period Adams edited 6 stories of which he wrote co-wrote one with the producer ('City of Death') under the pseudonym of 'David Agnew' and wrote serial 'Shada' which was never completed in production due to a writers' strike. There were a lot of strikes in Britain during that period so this is not uncommon and at least they didn't end up with something lame like 'Shades of Grey' from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Williams and Adams then quit while they were behind and left the series to long-time line-editor John Nathon-Turner and Chris H. Bidmead (El Bid). Nathan-Turner remaind with the series until the bitter end.
The Adams Edited Stories from Season 17 are in order:
'Destiny of the Daleks'
'City of Death'
'Creature from the Pit'
'The Nightmare of Eden'
'Horns of Nimon'
'Shada' (Production never completed due to writers' strike)
'The Pirate Planet' was the second of six serials of season 16.
Be Seeing You,
Jeffrey.
Time Lord, Dark Horse: The Techno Mage of Gallifrey
P.S. I WOULD like to know what it was like working with Nation on 'Destiny of the Daleks', Williams on Season 17 and Reed for 'The Pirate Planet'. What were those chaps like in your opinion and 20/20 hindsight, and do you have ANY fond memories of that enslavement ^h^h^h^h tenure you had at the BBC and 'Doctor Who'? :)
Be Seeing You,
Jeffrey.
Time Lord, Dark Horse: The Techno Mage of Gallifrey
Will you start to sell the online Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy in some other form like a pda...I would think that as soon as you started to charge for somthing like it you could hire a full time staff to organize it and make it even more comprehensive
Why was it that you killed everybody off in the end of Mostly Harmless? Was it so you would have no way to write yet another book in the trilogy? I was quite sad to see them go...
Posted from the wireless couch.
Actually, I did read the book - all three infact. This question was never directly addressed in the book. If you had actually read the book recently (as I have - about a month ago), you might have something useful to ask as well.. instead of making personal slams.
Our database admin is going to love this. Not only can I write SQL now, I can PLAY it.
Yes!!!!
;+)
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
Regretfully, I think the letter you sent me got lost over the years (we moved around a lot.) I was wondering if by some strange chance you still have mine. ;-)
Thank you again for the letter, DNA!
Cheers,
Preston Landers
pbl at pbl dot cx
Given the rate of technological change, and the everyday items that wern't around when you wrote the Hitchhikers series, what, do you think, you would change or add if you were to write it today?
Just curious here. It's about the movie 'Men in Black'. I had great fun watching that movie (as I had great fun reading *the book*), and it was strongly reminding me of the guide. Well, of course, the subject space-aliens stuff is alike. Moreover, to my humble opinion, the humor is somewhat of the same nature as the humor in the guide. So I would like to ask you, have you seen MIB && how did you like it?
Thank you for your time,
Jeroen (who deeply enjoyed reading the guide, but what the ***: who didn't?)
Writing about music is like dancing about words - FZ
I've often enjoyed coming up with different inturpretations of you work, for literary analysis. For example, one could argue that Ford Prefect is a Messiah character because he saves Dent from the end of the world. Dent, representing mankind, Zaphiod a Judas, and Marvin a doubting Thomas. It can also be applied to almost any religon, of course.
Did you have any ideas like that in mind for Literary classes to diassemble, when you wrote the books, or is it all just happenstance?
Shaun Nelson - Bastard Operator (From Hell / For Hire)
didn't they try to jack Marvin into a race of machines at one point, and once the sheer volume of depression he felt hit them, they all committed suicide? it's been too long since I've read these. So my vote would be Marvin. On a physical level, you're just nitpicking.
While HHGttG is what got me onto your writing, my favourites remain the Dirk Gently books. I have read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency somewhere in the region of 10 times, and Long Dark TeaTime of the Soul almost as often.
Every time I read these books, I pick up on something I never got in any previous read, due to the beautiful interconnectedness of all things in the plot.
For instance, it took me several reads before I finally caught the clue that answered the question of the sofa stuck in the hallway. When I got it, I walked around the house in awe and with a desparate need to tell someone - only noone would really understand it if I did. Quite frustrating.
I don't want to go through this anymore. Please tell me what remaining plot elements I have yet to understand in each of these books.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
--Tiger
(slartibartfast)
he started with "PHARTIPHUKBORLZ" and played with the syllables until he came to something that was "sounded that rude, but was almost, but not quite, entirely inoffensive"
(radio scripts book)
i cannot endorse the radio script book enough for those who are interested in the production of the series. (publisher out of stock, so you'll have to visit your local used/rare book shop or have one of the online book folks track it down).
for the record, the "movie" that is show on PBS was actually a weekly television series from the other side of the pond that was movie-ized by PBS and now, as you say, "floats around". this does not make it less horrible. although the bits with the book are good.
interestingly enough, the bits of the "computerized looking" book were all down by hand instead of with computers... (IIRC)
This is already answered in great detail in the Radio Scripts book.
This is about the most non-ambiguous ending to a series i've ever come across. how could you continue on from there in any direction? all the loose ends are tied up scattered into base elements.
of course, there could always be prequels and filler stories, such as "the extradinary sequence of events that happened to Marvin that he could never satisfactorily explain" (or something) when he escaped the Hagunenon (spelled wrong, i know) spacecraft.
answered in the "Don't Panic" book. I don't have it on hand, but it is "Paul something someting something something", a real person who complained after the first broadcast of the programme, so it was altered in subsequent versions (including the radio script book).
DNA authored "The Pirate Planet" (the planet that would dematerialze and then rematerialize around a slightly smaller planet) and the never-completed Shada (bits of which you can see in "The Five Doctors", used in place of Tom Baker actually coming back to film new sequences for the special). He did not author any others.
I read a short story based on Shada in one of the Doctor Who fanzines oh so many years ago, with still images from the completed shooting. it looks to have been a good story.
So, I read the book on the HHGTTG radio scripts, which went into the background of the radio series... but one thing I never got was... why science fiction? Were you a science fiction fan? A fan of technology?
The way this question came about was that I had read recently that you were involved in the creation of some sort of "real world" HHGTTG (some e-bookish thing, as I recall). I thought it was interesting that a real device has sprung out of what seemed to be a plot device all those years ago...
has your game company had any other releases after Starship Titania? (a great combination of 3D environment and the text based commands of classics like Space Quest and Police Quest, thanks for creating it)
---
I post links to stuff here
(Since you seem most concerned about Christianity...) About the same as I'd feel if I lived in a culture that shoves Hinduism (as in many regions of India), or Islam (as in Pakistan or a few other countries), or any other religion, or _atheism_ (as happened in most of the Communist countries) down my throat. On the other hand, I have no problem with someone who would attempt to persuade me, through a polite dialog, that Hinduism, or Islam, or atheism is The One True Way (TM).
------ "Darn floor. Big bite." (Koko the gorilla's best attempt at explaining the experience of an earthquake.)
What is the current status of the new movie? Is it still being worked on? Is there a script? I know Arthur was cast, has anybody else been? Has filming started? If not, when? And most importantly, when will it be in theaters?
Well your friend is corret. You've got it wrong.
Read that part again if you doubt me.
It's called new wave but it's just the same.
Yet, there are people in the world that do aspire to become what you have, at least regarding what they leave behind when they, as you not yet have, die.
As a true cliche the question is: Is there, in your view, anything special to think about before actually sitting down and finding out that writing a book is damn much harder than one ever thought? Is the best way to sit down on a grass hill, stoned just above concious level, and see if anything emerges when you put a typewriter in front of yourself?
Those of us not being of the stoned kind, rather hope that there is, somehow, a better way to find out if you're an unselfconcoius author. Is there anything to help them out? Is there anything to have in mind when trying to get your writing published, apart from the obvious doubtfulness to anything that publishers tell you?
As I understand, you have implied (or flat-out stated) that you don't really think about deeper meaning while writing (Vonnegut has said the same thing I believe). Have you looked back at something you've written and wondered if some long buried beast within is trying to tell you something?
Was this message inspired by some particularly bad experience with a fast food franchise?
Also, did the space craft in DGHDA play anything by The Greatful Dead?
And last but not least, could the bable fish translate Eubonics?
I'd love to get answers to these questions.
Shouldn't Deep Thought's child be named Earth Mark I?
I know I often find myself coming up with crazy theories to explain life and things only to later find they resembled theories hundreds and even thousands of years old. Then I think back to Hitchhikers and find that you covered the same idea at some point in the story. Was it intentional or purely accidental that you seem to have covered all major (and strange) philosophical ideas on the nature of life?
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
I'm going to be in London this fall. Since I'm from the USA I have no idea what to expect or where the best resturants and pubs can be found. Do you have any particular recomendations?
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
Your question doesn't seem to make sense.
Why should the rest of the year be repeats?
You could perfectly easily use the same slot
for other shows with 6-episode seasons.
-- You've got to get a hat if you want to get ahead.
I've never read HGTTG, but I know I should.
It's been my experience of British comedy in general (Python is a good example) that it has a very deep darkness at the core of all that sillyness. Take Python's Life of Brian for example; or the Ministry of Silly Walks and Mary, Queen of Scotts skits. Mr. Bean also shares this thread - he continually does silly things to out-do cruel fate.
While Python and Bean use physical comedy to bring this darkness across, many British stand-ups show it with quick, sarcastic zingers that make a deep reference to history, or politics or literature. See the Brit version of Who's Line is It Anyways and compare to the US. The Brit version requires thinking to get many of the gags, and the US one goes for much more immediate (dare I say 'mindless') laughter.
Vonnegut (Sirens of Titan in particular) seems to share a common root with British humour, has a similar dark quality, and seems to say that the Universe is fscking with us, despite all of our efforts, to accomplish something which by our standards is totally pointless.
The dark irony is fall-down funny, until we recognize ourselves in the characters who's best efforts are consistently thwarted by the trivial. I think that this sort of self-reflection and 'carrying on with dignity' despite adversity, is a very British trait.
Witness Brit versions of Practical Jokes and contrast to the US version. The British 'victims' try to act normal in an un-natural situation and the effort they put into it is what is funny. Americans (over)react according to the situation, and the excess of their reaction is what's amusing.
It's a very different brand of humour than American sit-coms, home videos and crude (Andrew Dice Clay/Chris Rock) stand-up. "Wazzzup!?" jokes would never fly in Britain, for example.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
First off, this is the greatest story ever to be on slashdot and i'm amazed the man who's books made me feel like a spec of dust in the universe is on the dot. Anyway, i remember reading your bio on one of your book jackets(and again in interviews) saying you are a avid supporter of the macintosh... I suppose they were published a while ago, so your views mightve changed, but do you still suport mac? What kind of computer(s) are you running now? What do you see as the future of the computer industry? Any thoughts on linux and open source(do you even know what they are)?? Thanks, and i can't wait to see more works from you(what the hell hapenned to the hhgttg movie plan anyway?)
--
Slartibartfast:"Is that your robot?"
Marvin:"No, I'm mine."
Well Adams is an atheist(i've read that in many bios and interviews), and one of the ways he shows it is by 'disproving' god in the hhgttg books.. How can there be meaning in a godless world? I've found the books probably the most depressing thing i've ever read(Shakespearean tragedies dont even compete with Adams... Adams tells the truth and the tragedy is fact, not based on our emotions when reading these stories). And with all the amazing scientific advancements in the series, it really makes man feel worthless... Computers can do more than anything imagined or able to be done by man, time travel can help accomplish all feats ever existing in the universe(time travel to the last day and i would suppose the beings that exist would know all).. what can man do then?
--
Slartibartfast:"Is that your robot?"
Marvin:"No, I'm mine."
That's why it's a FIVE BOOK TRILOGY (yes, that's trilogy...aka the "Increasingly Innacurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy")...it's not one book...read the rest of em and you'll find out. Oh, and it's Zaphod, not Zaphoid.
One Microsoft Way
My plan is to pimp before they realize I'm a jackass. Hit 'em hard and fast.
Getting rid of the newton was controversial? That thing was a beast...
How about deciding to re-neg on os licensing/clone makers? Not releasing specs on the G3/G4 (ie. for BeOS and the like)? Or trashing the only good features of their OS with products like QuickTime 4.0?
http://overwhelmed.org
I also have a Newton I got for free and I've yet to find a use for it (anybody want to purchase?), but to each his/her own. My point was that there are more controversial issues than the Newton.
What I ment by the QT4 thing was that one of the few good things about Mac OS was consistancy and usability. QT4 has a completly non-standard and non-intuitived interface. This seems to be the direction that Apple is headed in.
Also, Instead of fixing the loop-holes in the old user interface (Example: If you drag a file from the HDD to the desktop it still exists on the HDD and if you drag a file from a floppy to the desktop it is really still on the floppy, so you have two files in the same place that really exist in two different places, sup wit dat?) They've decided to redo it from scratch (ie Aqua) and confuse everybody.
http://overwhelmed.org
After running across these on lspace.org I've always wondered if you knew about them and had a responce... ... a bookshop which sold pornographic magazines, and science fiction magazines. I went in there every day after school and came out with my satchel bulging.
... most SF writers are small blokes; they spent a lot of time grubbing around on the floor for old SF mags, not stretching up to the top shelf for pornography ... As an aside Douglas Adams is quite tall ...
----------------
The Little Library
-- Terry Pratchett, Warwick Uni (10.11.94)
-- Terry Pratchett, Warwick Uni (10.11.94)
Written by David Agnew, who was a gestalt of Douglas Adams/Graham Williams/David Fisher. The baddy was Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth.
The other Dr. Who that Douglas Adams wrote was *Remembrance* of the Daleks, notable because it has one of the worst plot devices ever in a Doctor Who storyline. The protagonists, who have been oppressed by the Daleks for n years, have a battery on their chest that can be easily removed.
Why not make them susceptible to gold?
Oh, hold on, I think that one might have been used before....
Six episodes is pretty much the norm for UK series, as you point out, the Blackadder series was 4series x 6episodes. The Young Ones was 2 x 6, Red Dwarf was 7 x 6, etc...
When I met you at E3 in 1998 I had the chance to ask you about a followup Last Chance to See. At the time, you mentioned that you were hoping to produce a new radio series to follow up the original series and book. Have plans been firmed up since then? Has the situation for the species you discussed in your first book improved since the 80s? Thanks!
Matt
MattKeller@_Spam_Off_.users.com
remove the fiddly bit to email me...
I don't mean a WAP portal for h2g2.com, but an actual specialized item that justs gets h2g2 info, maybe with a gps signal. Something of that sort could be frighteningly useful. You know, something exactly like what you described in the book.
The reason that I said not a wap portal is that it seems that with the net in general there is just (warning: blindingly obvious observation coming, sheild your eyes) a LOT of stuff, and when developing a limited featureset device, it would be nice if some one would specialize one to specific content.
If you do decide to make a device of this sort, two more questions, can I help? and can i betatest?
also, on an aside, it would seem that all these electronic dating devices (like singles pagers) are sort of a terrestrial application of your "thumb." Do you see any other applications of that type of technology and thought, until we can hitchhike at least?
thanks
Ok, so as everyone knows, the answer is wrong.
"What do you get when you multiply seven by nine" is *not* 42.
So what happened? Did the 6 get flipped around somehow?
And what happened to the dolphins, anyway?....
"...they may harpoon us, but they ain't gonna pick us up on no radar screen!"
It seems likely that you're able and avid computer user, and I know that you've been involved with the production of software (Starship Titanic, for example). But your writing seems to imply some familiarity with computer science concepts beyond user level (Mostly Harmless, for example, has the feeling of being written while under the influence of LISP or some other functional language. Those birds were darn spooky if you ask me). Have you done much coding?
Tweet, tweet.
That's the idea of factoring numbers to primes:
69 = 3 x 21
69 = 3 x 3 x 7
50 = 5 x 10
50 = 2 x 5 x 5
ANY number is the product of primes.
aÍÍ©ÍÌÍ£Ì'̽ͩÌÍzÍYÌÍÌY
The first question has been answered in a prolog someplace.
:- jRandomHacker(x) ^ cool(y) ^ funny(y) ^ unusual(y)
> fan(x, y)
> jRandomHacker(usAll)
> cool(DouglasAdams)
> funny(DouglasAdams)
> unusual(DouglasAdams)
(Note: I haven't programmed in Prolog for quite some time, so there's probably something seriously wrong with the above.)
To the editors: your English is as bad as your Perl. Please go back to grade school.
Well, Marvin, of course. The reasoning is this:
Marvin would be more than happy to let Data win, because that way he could end his own miserable experience. He wouldn't have any luck with that, so he would win while being horribly crippled :)
Ah, thanks. Doesn't surprise me that it was a pun on someone he personally knew. I was also a bit puzzled about the person's name in the radio series not sounding like "Paula .."..
Is she a real person ? If so, did you have something personal against her, or was her poetry really that bad ?
What is this Imperial Tobacco award listed in the bio?
Can't resist giving this one a shot:
1. I remember Adams saying in an interview that he didn't read scifi much, because if it's bad, it's bad, and if it's good, he'll get jealous or depressed...
2. Personally I find Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett quite different: Adams is kind of a tortured, unproductive writer, whose every single word is weighed, with an elegant style and subtle humor when he can get something out; the only book I've read of Pratchett's I found not that funny, not that well written, and I tremble at the thought that there's 30 more of them (could be wrong). There's also that Adams is scifi, while Pratchett seems more like fantasy...
I think the first one, I forget the title.
Maybe my problem is that for me, Adams has near-god status, and Pratchett just pales in comparison. To me. And he seems a little derivative too. I know many people like him though.
With the advent of items like the wireless PalmPilot and projects like H2G2, do you forsee a time when Lonely Planet will manufacture a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Planet, or does it seem more likely that the frontier of personal gadgetry will end in a suffusion of yellow?
In a sense, you're both right.
But in a more real sense, your friend is correct (and, besides, I believe it says so in the book).
Did you endorse the use of "Babelfish" by altavista or did you consider trying to prevent them from using the word as they are far from proving that god does not exist?
Lycos does go long way towards disporving at least a merciful god.
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
-- H. L. Mencken
Evening Douglas,
First of all, thanks for coming up with "Eddie's in the space-time continuum". Secondly, would you like to come to my house warming at the start of June? I wouldn't be asking except for the fact that Ben Elton, John Cleese and Tony Blair refused. So if you don't mind the trek to Shoreditch I'll cover your travel expenses. We'll make sure we have a copule of extra towels to go round as well.
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
At a "Global village" talk in London a couple of years ago, you told a very funny story "which REALLY happenned to YOU" about eating biscuits whilst waiting for a train. A couple of months later, I caught up with "So Long..." and "Mostly Harmless", and I can't remember which one, but basically I was shocked to discover that the same thing had "REALLY happenned to ARTHUR DENT"!
For the benefit of those that haven't heard it, could you briefly re-tell in your own great style, and could you also tell us which station it was, whether it really DID happen to you, or Arthur (well, ok), or both, or whether it's entirely made up, or what? Are you Arthur Dent?
Nick Waterman, Sr Tech Director, #include <stddisclaimer>
It reminded me mostly of when Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle killed of Holmes because he was sick of people asking for more. It didn't work for him, no one wanted anything else so he brought Sherlock back later. I wonder if Adam's decided to kill everyone off in such a heavy-handed manner to discourage anyone from asking for more.
Hmm, put into the form of a question:
Why was the tone of Mostly Harmless so much darker than the rest of the series?
The question "what do you get when you multiply six times nine" is noise. Since the Golgafrincham (sp?) B ark came to Earth and wiped out the Neanderthals the experiment was ruined. At one point, in at least one version, Marvin says he can see the answer in Arthur's brain. Funny that the mice didn't complain at the time, though. And I'm sure Deep Blue was at least inspired by Deep Thought.
what was it like working with the infocom team, making the hitch hiker guide to the galaxy game? /lars r
The answer to The Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42.
:-)
;)
But as it turns out, the question is more important than the answer... so does this mean the REAL Question is "What is the question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?"... And because we already know the answer is 42, does this mean that the question is "42??!?!"
I apologize... It's been a few years since I've read the "trilogy" and I don't remember if the question of the question was ever answered...
And now for my question to Douglas Adams:
What is the answer to the question of Douglas Adams?
May I have free tickets to the movie premiere please?
I understand that the original BBC radioplay of HHGTTG was your big break. I have listened to several audio books, including your own excelent narration of Dirk Gently's Hollistic Detective Agency, but I never heard anything as lively and amazing as that soundtrack (the excelent music sets the mood, too).
How did that project come together in the first place?
Duct tape + WD40 => DevOps
6 times 8 equals 42?
:) Dang barleyguy... looks like you've had enough of the wicked brew for today, then again, that's WHY you're barleyguy isn't it? ;)
:)
It DOES??
-Don.
Actually the way I made sense of the 42 thing is using the biblical symbolism for 7 and 6... 7 meaning perfection and 6 meaning falling short of perfection (or sin)... so 6 x 7 would be some sort of chaotic mix of good and evil or something. I know it's all wrong and I'm just being a dork but it is kinda interesting.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
42?
I always thought "six times nine equals forty-two" was a way of pointing out that humans don't really know as much as they think they do, and other species don't either.
:) Do these sorts of things pop into your head and migrate into your storylines, or do they just *happen*?
At a birthday party at work, someone blurted out that phrase, and was asked what it meant. One of my co-workers (a great bearded German character) simploy said: "The world is not run by beings with ten fingers."
And then I got it, ten years later.
------------------
"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - Major Mike Shearer, UK
I would really like to see what Mr. Adams' response is to this question.= -=-=
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
What's it like not being dead?
He'll also sell you one, if you're thirsty.
In your wanderings through life, what have you found as your personal answer to life, the universe and everything?
The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
My retelling may be somewhat incomplete/inaccurate. I've also intentionally stripped the story of any literary flare or humor which I may recall, as a more creative reinterpetation would have almost certianly corrupted a wonderful story told by a wonderful writer. I thought I'd toss that out there fyi.
-rt
======
Now, I think it would be GOOD to buy FIVE or SIX STUDEBAKERS
and CRUISE for ARTIFICIAL FLAVORING!!
I remember reading that you wrote your own
text editor in BASIC in way back when.
What are your programming these days?
What programming language(s) do you use?
What's your favorite stimulent?
What's your favorite liquid depressent?
If humans were to become more like one particular character from the HHGG, which would you predect? Which would you prefer?
My personal pick would be Zaphod - being an aloof arrogant narcissist has its perks, if you're too inebriated to be honestly introspective.
I follow this film site.. they have ahd a few blurbs here N There about HHGTTG movie..r sguide.html
http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/hitchhike
hope this helps/hinders.
Starv.
http://thepoliticalgeek.com/blog/ Politics for Geeks.
I'm just curious about why you decided to have the missile turn into a whale, and where the names Slartibartfast and Zaphod Beeblebrox might have come from. Thanks for the great stuff.
-Mike
When did he switch watches? Was it in his pocket when he fled Earth with Ford Prefect in the first place?
Was he wearing one watch on each arm? Then the arm that flew off must have been the one wearing the analog watch...
Or was this an effect of the strange parallel Earth business?
I have been wanting to know the answer to these questions for some time!
With your business venture, The Digital Village/H2G2, you have created a popular community. It has been stated on H2G2 that you are planning on making an Earth Edition of the HHGTTG. Will this be an implimentation of the WAP protocol on WAP enabled phones only, or will you be marketing an actual product?
it is better to light a flame thrower than curse the darkness. -Terry Pratchett Men at Arms
Who's your favorite author?
What's the best book you've read?
What are you currently reading?
What genres do you generally favour?
What music do you listen to? (While reading?)
I posted this on USENET sometime in '97 and never followed it up persistently. Someone mod this up and get it through, please!
Martin
That will bring the series incarnation count to a total of four. Now I've read the forward that explains that "the BBC productions and the book are NOT the same" and for good reason. But my question is, how do you keep track of that crazy universe? When it comes time to do another adaptation, which elements are necessary in any adaptation, and why?
Thanks, very long time fan :)
Michael Gentili
- He's just some guy, you know?
Any chance you'll get to name any new Pink Floyd albums in the future? Any names come to mind? Play with them lately?
(For those who don't know, Douglas Adams came up with name of the last PF album and played with them on his birthday).
I mean what is six times seven...
MetallicBurgundy
Sool boong fleure grewl es elama, ishmet cnanor teer flugle? Es boong feleey peena?
In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, you describe Dirk as having a red hat. Was this some kind of prophesy of things to come?
if(!toilet_paper) roll.replace(new roll);
(sic :)
(8-DCS)
It seems as though the ``blatant stupidity'' of plain old slashdot readers is going to promote your question up to Adams, who'll growl (in his stuffy British accent) ``Idiots! I'm _DOUGLAS_!''
Man! slashdot is great.
I wonder if DNA would notice if the questions he was given didn't include any reference to the number 42.
Are you still using a Newton, and have you gotten a chance to talk to Steve Jobs about why he should have kept it around?
12 fits, not parts.
I have listened to the original radio-show thousands of times now. I never get tired of listening to the wonderful humor, and often pick up new things that I missed the last time through.
Would you ever consider putting on a similar show, but include some of the later additions that came after the broadcast?
-= Xafloc =-
alinuxbox.com
N
Well, here's the story with 42... I know the answer is in the radio transcripts...I'm not sure if it's in the books, though (I don't recall...).
6*9=54. In base ten. The base 13 representation of the decimal number 54 is 42. That is, (4*13)+(2*1)=(dec)54. Now, why anyone would use base-13, I don't know... But there have been civilizations that have used base-60 (hence 60 seconds to the minute, etc..), base-12 and -24 (24 hours to the day), and base-48 (well...uh...some of us are just weird!).
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -Douglas Adams, THHGTTG
Recently there have been a few products put on the market, which bear a resemblance to the hitchhikers' guide described in the book. None of these however can provide the type of information access described in the book (maybe a palm V + access to Everything. my question is if you think that there is currently a product on the market such as the palm V, or the TI-XX which has an opportunity to become a Guide type appliance? Do you think that the ability to instantly gain an understanding of things encountered in daily life will change the way anyone acts?
distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes!!!
You're right, I should have used a different word than valuable - saleable comes to mind. Digital copies of the Guide legally have to be bought, but you can just go to thelouvre.org or whatever and download jpegs of the Mona. But the real value of art seems to be in the information itself, which is how we get into all this trouble over mp3s.
I would say that it is possible to alter for better or for worse the value of a work through modification, though it is difficult to say how such things actually work. Translation and abridgement are commonly-inflicted transformations that sacrifice value for some other concern, like size or language.
> 3. I would sooner paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa, or something vulgar on the Sistine Chapel than alter one of Mr. Adams masterpieces.
But people use copies of the Mona Lisa as clip art all the time, doing all kinds of bizarre things to it. The only difference here is that with painting, only the content of the original is considered valuable, whereas with literature, the content of every copy, ever, anywhere, is considered valuable.
- there is already a hhg "movie" available (though the date mentioned on your url indicates that that page probably has nothing to do with this), that was really a compilation of a tv mini-series done in england. i have a copy, and its pretty good (if you ignore the really bad red-dwarfish/bbc special effects).
- DNA, in his keynote, spoke at length about how he wasn't interested in doing a feature-film, because the 90 minute format didn't work for how HHG is laid out (remember, it was a half-hour radio series). He just couldn't figure out how to tell a complete story within 90 minutes. He found the ~40 min length of IMAX films to be better suited to the plot, and planned on doing them in several installments.
anyway, have fundongoodman
...he talked at length about the HHGTG 3D-IMAX films (not come to pass, as far as i know...)
I remember coming across a HHG movie on imdb.com a while back.. Anyone have new info about this?
Daniel
daniel@splink.net
In 'Last Chance To See', the overall sense was that humanity was doing itself out of a nice planet, despite much hard work by individuals (yourself included, IMO).
Several years on, how do you rate our chances of keeping Earth going now? That is, can we halt the environmental slide we've started?
ÐÆ
|>
Here be Dragons
Friend of ours gave us her old Newton, we use it, it runs fine... sure it weighs a bit, but hey, it was free.
Please explain what you mean by 'trashing their OS with QT 4.0'...
The Divine Creatrix in a Mortal Shell that stays Crunchy in Milk
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
Do you mean the media player or the developer's version? I've never paid my $29.95 to get the goodies... as far as a media player, what's unintuitive about a play button shaped like an arrow?
;-)
And as far as Aqua goes, all the Mac-heads I know are in LOOOOVE with OSX, not primarily because they think it will function any better, but it's just so PRETTY. I mean, this is the company who produces tangerine flavored laptops.
The Divine Creatrix in a Mortal Shell that stays Crunchy in Milk
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
At any rate, given that I post about one comment per week now, if I'm a karma whore, I'm a very, very patient one.
As a matter of fact, just to disprove your point, I invite any wandering moderator to moderate this very post you're now reading down to oblivion. If you're worried about meta-moderation, remember 'Overrated' doesn't get meta-moderated.
Really, you occasional trolls seem more obsessed about karma than regular posters. It may come as something of a shock, but I personally don't care whether a post of mine goes through the roof or falls down to -1.
Personally, I like the Guards books, though I felt that Jingo was a bit of a let-down. The best books, IMHO, are the Death books (Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather.) Hogfather, in particular, was brilliant, dark, witty and unsettling. Death is Pratchett's favourite character, and it shows.
I didn't really care for Sourcery. And just to show how subjective it all is, Small Gods was the first one I'd read, and I enjoyed it (the gods-die-without-believers premise reminded me quite a bit of Harlan Ellison's Deathbird Stories). I'm currently reading the 3 "Night Watch" books. I loved Guards! Guards!, am currently enjoying Men at Arms, and am looking forward to Feet of Clay. I'll have to check out Jingo after that (actually, this page suggests that Jingo is another Watch book?).
A poll would be cool, but really long. I wonder what the longest (most options) Slashdot poll is...
--
my lists
the only book I've read of Pratchett's I found not that funny
Which one? I've read 3.5 Discworld books, 2.5 of which are/were quite funny, and one that was blah.
--
my lists
I think you'll find it isn't...
This is completely off-topic, but I think it's funny how I originally misinterpreted your sig. The connotation I read was, "Are you talking to the real John Carmack, or just ESR *pretending* to be John Carmack?"
--
No more e-mail address game - see my user info. Time for revenge.
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
It is hard to say what makes one more of a "Karma Whore", posting with +1 or not. Posting without the +1, you've got an opportunity for that one extra point, though I have a strong suspicion that a post initially given a 2 is more likely to be noticed and moderated up. (I can't prove it, but after posting with the +1 sometimes, without at others, this seems to be the case.)
(I moderate you down myself, but I just used all my points undoing a little of the damage some troll with moderator points did to slashdot-terminal.)
The cake is a pie
As an atheist, where do you feel your inspiration comes from? Some atheists have definite political and philosophical goals (like Ayn Rand), however, I don't know if you have any of these goals (maybe I'm not reading that well).
Thank you.
Dan
Speaking of handheld devices, there is a Palm Pilot parser for all the old Infocom games, so you can play both Hitchhiker's Guide and Bureaucracy on your palm pilot. They have to be two of the coolest games available for the palm.
Anyhow....
--- "So THAT's what an invisible barrier looks like!" - Time Bandits
Universe Man. Size of the entire Universe, Man!
So maybe he's dyslexic.
Anyways, you think all that is weird, check this out:
From the jargon file, we learn that 105 octal is 69 base 10, and that 105 base 10 is 69 hex. Well, does this pattern continue? Yeah. 105 hex is 69 in base... 42!
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
where did that name come from?
:]
i know i spelt it wrong..please correct my spellin ppl.
use babelfish maybe
Do Not Read Burgatronics... It's Evil
Ceterum censeo Microsoftam esse delendam.
1. A (very) religious relative once commented that the TPV is actually the true face of god. Somehow I don't think you are a very religious person, but did you ever think the same thing? Did you ever even hear similar things from someone else?
2. What happened to the Shakespere play generated by the monkeys?
3. I read the story about how you saw 3 deaf/mute people in a row when you asked for directions.. do you think there was an infinite probability drive in action at that point? (aside from the convention)
First of all, what's the status of the HHGG movie? information is still pretty sketchy. Is there a cast set or in mind yet? when is anyone ever going to get around to actually making the thing?
But really I want to know what the movie is going to look like. a $120 million figure was cited. That means it could be done, production-wise, like a serious american sci-fi movie. But do you want to? Although some elements of HHGG seem to me to call for very advanced effects and good production values, others call more for a cheesy Dr Who type look, or something else entirely (Like when the improbability drive turns on, probably the most effective approach would be just to hand out hallucinogenic drugs to everyone in the theater). Have you discussed set design and special effects yet? Like, for example, what do you want the Heart of Gold to look like? I think it should be very advanced looking (top quality cgi, etc), but happen to have the same exact shape as, say, Arthur's toothbrush. Can I be in charge of these things? I'm highly qualified, with no experience whatsoever! Have i rambled enough yet? Now? Ok.
wisconsin does not exist.
We all know what the answer was, but just what, exactly, was the question?
Question: In your travels around the world, have you considered writing a global "Meaning of Liff" book? I'd be interested in your interpretation of Canadian and Australian placenames, in particular.
Question: It's been a few years since you wrote your book on endangered species. In the mean time, we've had many more additions to the list, and crises in biotechnology that could cause the list to inflate further. If you were writing that book today, how different would your journalistic approach be?
Question: On a similar note, why don't you and Michael Palin team up for a book?
Question: Ford Prefect?
"values of beta will give rise to dom!"
Certainly the best well-known one, but I think you'll find that War of the Worlds is about as well-known.
[TMB]
i remember a couple months back that you had stated a desire to create a real life hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. the first step in that goal of course seems to be h2g2.com. i know that h2g2 is currently experimenting with the wireless application protocol (wap) to serve it's content to 'wap' capable cell phones,etc. the original reports, however, talked of a PDA type device with the ability to interface with a wireless network to obtain information (a sub-etha-net?) as well as 'don't panic' on the cover in big friendly letters. is the idea of a real and portable hitchhiker's guide still in the works or has it been shelved in favor of h2g2's wap service?
The question as to 'Why 42?' has been answered dozens of times by Mr. Adams in other interviews. His reply was always something like, "I just stared out my garden window for a while, and finally thought, 'Forty-two would be nice.'" If you're looking for answers like this, I would highly suggest Neil Gaiman's book "Don't Panic", which contains answers to the most frequently-asked Hitchhiker questions.
Now I just need to think up a bloody question to ask him myself...
--frood
So On with the question!
What would you consider justification for life? What experiences are needed in order to actually live? Or is it rather based upon thought and beliefs hat a person holds?
The back button on my browser is broken... so I would appreciate it if everyone would put a "target=new" into their link
Douglas,
Dirk is quite possibly the most hilarious fiction character ever. Is he based at all on you?
The price we pay for immortality... is death. Narnia The Great Fall
2 * 3 * 7 = 42
Three primes.
.sig: Now legally binding!
Sounds a bite like the 'heart plug' used in Dune, where the slaves/subordinates had some sort of patch on the aorta or other major blood vessel, and a little handle that could be pulled to rip a large hole in the vessel, leading to a fairly rapid death through blood loss.
One of my favourite books of yours is Last Chance to See. I'm not certain, but I believe it is the only non-fiction book you have written.
I know that you are now pretty occupied at The Digital Village, but are you likely to write another non-fiction book? LCTS was very effective in waking the reader to the reality of the dying species in the world, and an interesting adventure to read besides.
/dev/psychic: No medium found
Mr. Adams, I was interested in how you got started writing that series of novels. I mean what prompted the thought "I am going to sit down and write the wackiest, best science fiction book ever?" How long did it take you, where did you write it etc. Also, no offence, but did drugs play as big a role as I thought they did in creating the story?
>Digital copies of the Guide legally have to be bought
Read the subject. The discussion is about the possibility of Adams deciding to waive his copyrights.
The discussion has gone full circle.
-Peter
PS: The Louve is at http://www.louvre.fr/. Mona is at http://www.louvre.fr/fra ncais/magazine/joconde/jocon_f.htm
Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them.
You're soaking in it.
It is called the World Wide Web.
-Peter
Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them.
That has been documented as a typo. I can't remember where I read that though. Maybe his biography (who's name escapes me, perhaps I left it on a bus.)
-Peter
Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them.
That is very interesting. At first glance I tended to agree.
;-)
First, I think that it is obvious that I was using a touch of hyperbole.
For the third time (just for clarity) I wouldn't change the "content" just the medium.
I don't think that a large print COPY of the Bible is blasphemous.
Or even an English version
I don't even think that there is anything wrong with someone making a change, or even making a change and redistributing (with the kind permission of the author.) As long as they don't try to pass it off as the real thing.
Say some slashdot troll gets his kicks from putting a copy of the Guide on his site, but replaces references to tea with hot grits (again, with the authors permission to modify and redistribute) I don't see any harm.
This seems equivalent to having wallpaper of the Mona Lisa with a shirt that says "Shit Happens" courtesy of the GIMP.
To put it another way. If I scanned in my copy of Mostly Harmless and converted it, say, to PDF would a copy of that file be more valuable than mona_s_happens.bmp?
Again, we have crossed the divide between atoms and bits. The Mona Lisa is valuable because it is "the one true" Mona Lisa (in atom form)
Adams himself converted the Guide to digital form and resold it (for an early "digital book") Did some "creative control" he exerted maintain its "value" (your word) or is it just as good in pixels as it is in ink?
Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them.
Well, my friend, you could not be more wrong. On every count no less!
1. I am neither clueless, nor a zealot. I offer no evidence, but neither did you.
2. I happen to own at least one copy of each of Mr. Adams works, with the exception of that hippy book, "The Meaning of Lif," and the Infocom Hitchhikers game (which I wish I had.) (yes, I do have Bureaucracy.) I do not begrudge Mr. Adams one cent of his royalty for any of these items.
3. I would sooner paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa, or something vulgar on the Sistine Chapel than alter one of Mr. Adams masterpieces.
Perhaps open was a poor choice of (buzz)words, what I really meant was "will you waive your copyrights on fans producing copies, translations and "ports" to other media types." But in the end these ARE changes, aren't they? So maybe open is what I meant after all.
What I would like is:
1. To be able to reformat his works to other media (as in the CD reference.)
2. and to hear his reaction (as a writer) to the question.
-Peter
Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them.
Where you aware that there was, living at 526 Forest Rd Bexley New South Wales Australia, a REAL Person called Zaphod Beeblebrox? Checkout the listing at http://www.whitepages.com.au/. (Sorry there is no dirct link, you'll need to type in 'Beeblebrox' for yourself (along with New South Wales Capital City Residential).
Who would win in a fight between Daneel Olivaw
and Marvin The Paranoid Android?
Where in the hell did you manage to find a copy of Bureaucracy?
Wait, let me rephrase that: Where in the hell can *I* manage to find a copy of Bureaucracy?
Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
How much did you know about computers when you began writing HHGG? Has being more involved with computers affected how you write about them? Do you think it will ever be possible to build computers like Eddie, Marvin, or Deep Thought?
Also, how drunk will you (or John Lloyd) have to get to write another Meaning of Liff book? What about Last Chance to See?
Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
As for DNA and Apple, he's still listed as an Apple Master, if that's worth anything. And while some of the things Apple has done may be Geek-bane, I'd have to say that they seem to fall in line with at least some of the things DNA has ranted about before. Particularly, the simplicity of the iMac reminds me of an article he wrote for Macworld a while back where he complained about the innumerable power bricks he had to carry around to power all the gizmos for his computer.
Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
Forget about lawsuits, I'd be worried more about what the UN might say. This would be a huge violation of the Geneva Convention. And I'd have to agree with the US policy of restricting the trade of software as munitions in this case.
Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
Was the choice of 42 as the answer to the great question of Life, the Universe and Everything purely arbitrary, or was there some resoning for it, such as, seeing how many people would ask if your choice was arbitrary?
Interesting analogy.
Thanks , wish I'd thought of that!
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
Exactly. The guards books are the cream of the crop. The fifth elephant is also a guards book, though I haven't purchased it yet. (I'm waiting for paperback.)
Which one was the blah one?
The only one I really didn't like that much was Small Gods. I've really liked all the others. There ought to be a poll regarding favorite Discworld books. I'd vote for Jingo.
Hmmm....okay I can buy that. All I know is that it was a *lot* longer than I thought it would be, seeing as it was on one tape. Were the episodes a half hour or a full hour long? The tape sort of melded them together to create a really long movie. You could still tell where the TV show went on commercial break, and there were plenty of recaps, but there was only one set of actual credits, IIRC.
Although, six episodes would bring the series in line with, say, the BlackAdder series of series.
Is this post not nifty? Sluggy Freelance. Worshi
Either at the end of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe (in which we find out the Question to Life, the Universe, and Everything is "What do you get when you mulitply six by nine?") or at the end of Life the Universe and Everything, the universe went and reset itself, becoming more complex. Which is one of the reasons Earth decided to make a reappearance after it's cameo in the first book.
:).
Does that make sense? Well, it doesn't have to. If a lamp can fall of a table, scurry to the corner, and meow, then my explanantion does *not* have to make sense. So there
Is this post not nifty? Sluggy Freelance. Worshi
I have seen the 12 part BBC TV series, which you can conveniently get in one really, really long tape. I thought for a low budget TV show it was froody. Nice and kitch filled.
:).
However, the effects were kind of horrible if you compare it to, say, Star Wars. However, they were average compared to, say, Space 1999. Or the original Star Trek.
Although, a big screen five part trilogy would be kickin'....except Angelina Jolie would make a horrible Trillian and Pierce Brosnan is just not what I pictured for Arthur Dent. Jack Nicholson would be a good Zaphod though
Is this post not nifty? Sluggy Freelance. Worshi
In recent years there have been other comics, especially online, that have attempted to hit upon the Open Source Movement in particular (for example, User Friendly), and even these, which are designed for a really specific audience, have done reasonably well.
There have been many comments made upon these phenomenons about how comics relate to culture, especially sub-cultures such as the hacker culture that a lot of Slashdot users relate to.
What is your opinion in general about how comics effect us, and their significance other than being good for a few laughs?
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
How low can my Karma go for this fowl up!? ^_^
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Remember, Elvis is still alive. By the logic of the book, since there is still one survivor of Earth, an alternate Earth is still in existence, hence the characters aren't really dead! Unless, of course, Elvis is really an ET.
But, where's the fun in that?
Barbie of Borg - She doesn't just Assimilate, She Accessorizes too!
On the contrary, my understanding is that cats buttered on their backs will, when launched, reach a point near the ground (called the Alpha Floor by the feliologists at Airbus Industrie) and will then start spinning around their long axis, wanting to put both the buttered side and the pawed side on the ground. Like those 'levitating' magnets you see around the place.
In contrast, putting butter on a cat's feet will fix it to the ground indefinitely.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
WARNING! MOST OF THIS POST IS A RANT! SKIP TO THE GOOD BIT!
I've noticed that a lot of the previously posted questions are questions of fact, albeit open-ended ones, like "why 42" and "what happened to Zaphod." We don't have to ask most of these of Mr. Adams - each, in a manner quite the opposite of improbably, already fall into one of the following categories: Has already been answered; Can be answered by someone other than Adams; Is discernable without being answered; Shouldn't be answered (literary ambiguity and all that, you know?) In any case, Mr. Adams is a busy man, so if you have a question about plot or publication or whatnot, get it answered by other SlashDot users, on IRC, in usenet, or elsewhere. We can be reliably certain that he's sick of being asked those questions. What follows is an example of a question of opinion, rather than fact, that he is also probably sick of hearing, but is at least worth asking, since nobody else can answer. It also doubles as a serious question I'd like to submit in just the way the article asks, in hopes that Douglas Adams really does answer it.
HERE ENDS THE RANT. YOU MAY NOW BEGIN READING.
Dear Mr. Adams:
A very large number of people on this earth consider at least one of your works to be a personal favorite - and that's not just because there are so many people on earth - an impressive percentage of them do as well. This serves as flattery and a weak method of introduction for a vaguely related question. Parentheses are used in a grammatically incorrect but mathematically intuitive fashion to help clarify an obfuscated and poorly constructed sentence.
Which (books, movies, pieces of music, works of art, television/radio programs, or generally any items of media or entertainment), and which (authors, directors, producers, actors, composers, rock stars, artists, scriptwriters, or generally any creators of media or entertainment,) do you consider your favorites? Which were most influential for you? Why? Please feel free - or, if that isn't enough, imposed upon - to elaborate and explain in detailing your choices and opinions, and to mention anything that strikes you as relevant. Be as long-winded as you want. We love to read anything you write.
Obliged and enthralled,
A guy sometimes referred to as UberQwerty
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
geekoid writes:
,nearly, everything in on question. However, you follow it up with 2 more questions.oops. oh well better luck next time! "
:) Here it is: "Which are your favorite and/or most influential media creators and creations, and why?"
"Only one question per post.
I applaud the sneaky way in which you asked him about
First: hey, all relevant apologies, geekoid! No sneaky-ness intended. In my defense but not, I think and hope, in direct contradiction to what you said, I think the non-rant bit of my post can still simplify down to just one question. By one question I mean just one sentence, for all those rules lawyers
I know that's a really huge question if not several, but it sticks pretty much to the same general subject. I was a bit long-winded about it because I wanted to try to make it clearer for everyone.
Also, it's really open-ended on purpose, because Adams doesn't have to answer anything he doesn't want to. I decided to give him a nice, broad question to maximize the chances of him having something to say. If as you say my question is too broad to be chosen, I'm equally and perfectly happy asking a smaller one that covers less subject area, such as any combination of the following:
1) Mr. Adams,
2) What / Who
3) (is / was) / (are / were)
4) your
5) favorite / most influential
**** By now, you've probably got the idea - feel
**** free to skip down. I'll indent the bit to
**** skip, to make it easy for you to see where
**** it ends.
6) author(s) / artist(s) / scriptwriter(s) /
director(s) / actor(s) / celebrit(y/ies) /
musician(s) / composer(s) / (insert your
type of creator(s) of media) / novel(s) /
book(s) / motion picture(s) / work(s) of
fine art / piece(s) of music / television
program(s) / radio program(s) / web page(s)
/ computer game(s) / magazine(s) /
(insert your type of creation of media
here)
8) (optional) , and why
9) ?
10) (also optional) Feel free to elaborate.
ex:
"Mr. Adams, what are your favorite books,
and why?"
discard questions containing incorrect
pronouns, such as:
"Mr. Adams, who was your favorite magazine?
Feel free to elaborate."
or:
"Mr. Adams, what are your favorite authors?"
**** If you decided to skip down, this is where
**** you should start reading again.
I adamantly hope the party responsible for deciding which questions end up in front of Mr. Adams consider using something somewhat similar one such permutation or a combination of two or more, if that party shares your position that my original question is too broad.
Hoping for the best,
UberQwerty
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
On Hotblack Desiato's black, frictionless, and doomed stunt ship, Marvin said he could see the question imprinted in Arthur's brianwaves, but didn't say what it was. While Arthur and Ford were on ancient earth with the Golgafrians (Sp?), Arthur used his a scrabble board to get his subconsciousness to tell him that the question is "What do you get if you multiply 6 by 9?" This does not yield the correct answer, but he and Ford recognized that what Arthur's subconsciousness said might be off by a bit, since he was descended from the Golgawhatevers instead of real earth cavemen. This implies that the Ultimate Question is "What do you get if you multiply 6 by 7?"
Adams hints at this on Margaretha, when the mice are guessing at the question. They touch on 6 times seven but discard it in favor of something more pleasing. He can't let both the answer and the question both be known to his characters, because he tells us through Prak that if both were known in the same universe they'd cancel each other out and take the whole universe with them. It is possible that this is the real reason somebody was trying so hard to get rid of the earth - to keep the question from being discovered and the universe form ending.
In my opinion, the point is either that even if there is a simple answer and a simple question, we really don't know exactly what it is we really want to know, so if someone told us we wouldn't understand. Either that or the point is that the ultimate questions and answers are not at all what we expect or want them to be.
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
the vogons did indeed transfer into the big corporation idea. They bought the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy buisiness under the name Infinidim Enterprises and had themselves made a new, omnipotent guid that had the power to go back in time and muddle with things until exactly what it wanted to happen happened. They used the bird to finally destroy and put an end to earth on all points in the WSOGMM (whole sort of general mish-mash)
It'd be nice if the questions people ask here are not ALREADY ANSWERED in the fourth and fifth books, which people don't seem to know about
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
Zarniwoop, Zaphod, and a couple other fellows we meet during Zaphod's misadventures, originally conspired together to meet the ruler of the universe. They had figured out where he was - on an utterly hidden, unknown planet protected by an unprobability field, making it infinitely improbable for anyone to happen upon it by accident. When the Infinite Impribability drive was created, they figured it'd be able to get them to the planet in question, but only the President of the Galaxy would be in a position to steal the Hart of Gold, which had the drive.
So they lasered out parts of Zaphod's brain to make him the egomaniacal crazy guy he is in the books and to make him forget the bits about meeting the ruler of the universe. This way he passed the brain scans to become president, and made a good president. (since the actualy ruler of the universe was hidden on some planet somewhere, the president is only a figurehead designed to draw attention away from the real power, and they made Zaphod really good at that - he spent a good percentage of his term in jail for fraud.)
So Zaphod, manipulated by messages sent to him from his brain from his older, unlasered self, steals the heart of gold and makes his way to the Ruler of the Universe, who is a big disappointment for Zarniwoop and in whom the new, lasered Zaphod, has no interest, being very hungry at the time.
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
On your web site, you chose to have the translation of your book to Hebrew, out of all languages, in this picture: http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/works.jpg I'm curious why? All the other books shown in that image are not translations, and seem to be all in English. -- ``Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.'' -- Henry David Thoreau
-- developer_fuze
Mr Adams,
I read on what seemed to be a reputable Internet website (if such a thing exists) a while ago that you were involved in a project to bring about a Personal Digital Assistant to bear the name The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. The article wasn't too detailed about what features this guide would have, so I was wondering if you could tell us if this project is real, still alive, nearing completion, and what to expect from it.
Thanks very much.
Mikey
I think this "original" version is the best, and have listened to the tapes I recorded off the air* many times.
What puzzles me is this: I have never found an identical recording of this broadcast version of the show! The records are not the same. The official transcript books is not the same. The "original show" tapes released perhaps ten years ago are not the same either!
The one specific difference I remember: The version I heard on the air didn't have anything about the planet of intelligent Biros.
SO . . . were there in fact different broadcast versions? Perhaps one each for the British and American markets?
Thanks,
Stefan Jones
* I bought the "original broadcast" tapes so I'd have a legal copy.
B1ood
Note to self: pasty-skinned programmers ought not stand in the Mojave desert for multiple hours. -- John Carmack
In this context we should mention h2g2.com - which aims to be the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Earth Edition".
Personally, I don't think it's too good. People are desperately trying to be funny (even though they're specifically told not to).
-- "Tradition is the illusion of permanence."
A while back I heard a rumor about a HHGTTG movie. How true is this rumor that I heard? Is there anything like this planned? Do you have details for us ravenous fans?
Steve
"What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9?"
Everyone assumes this is just some odd joke. Try multiplying 6 by 9 in base 13 and see what happens.
Earthlings and their decimal system.... sheesh!
Steve
In chapter 9 of THHGTTG, Ford and Arthur find themselves on the starship Heart of Gold. Arthur can be heard to remark, "Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it." I know that I, and possibly the rest of the linux community, would like to know: what's so bad about turning into a penguin?
Steve
First of all let me thank you for many MANY hours
of fantastic entertainment from your books to your games to your videos. Now the question.
I have always thought of your work as some of the most unique and original I have found. What do you use to inspire your wonderful ranting.
P.S. ||||| thanks for my signature too.
VVVVV
"as plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee" - Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz. (One man's humorous is another mans flamebait)
Actually I had a god botherer talking at me the other day and he recons that there is a section in the bible that talks about umm jueses (I think) being the 42nd generation from adam.. (or sommink like that) and this bloke being a hhgtg fan found that being quite funny... Just my two scents
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Bahh. Triangle Man circumscribes the universe.
What kind of ending was that?
poop.
A normal integer...
(256)+(128)+(64)+(32)+(16)+(8)+(4)+(2) = is what the multipliers are internally.
0+0+0+1+0+1+0+1 = 42 in binary (base 2)
(256*0)+(128*0)+(64*0)+(32*1)+(16*0)+(8*1)+(4*0)+( 2*1) = 42!
42 (deciamal) = 00010101 (binary)
Does everyone understand now? If you want a long-integer, just add eight zeros to the front of 00010101.
Thankyou, Justin
I never did figure out what was behind the last "book" included in The more than complete hitchhikers guide. It seems a young zaphod showed up in section zz9 plural z alpha and made everything secure. What in the world was going on there?
What kind of effect will finally contacting (and hopefully conversing) with extra-terrestrial beings have on human life? Do you think it will profoundly change the way we behave and how we view ourselves and the universe, or will it be too removed from everyday life to have an impact? (I suppose it depends on what we discuss with them...)
Thanks for writing such wonderful books,
Pete
Do you believe in any form of afterlife? Why or why not? I have enormous respect for your intellectual abilities, and I'd very much like to hear your take on this question (I myself have absolutely no idea what to believe, after much consideration).
Thanks,
Pete
Simply put: Why 42????
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
Is this true? Are your fans more obsessed with your books than you ever will be? Doesn't it get annoying after a while?
The Web is like Usenet, but
the elephants are untrained.
Which lets you reach a larger audience here in the 200X's? Or is it necessary to do both to keep expanding your readership base?
BTW: Your publicity/signing tour for Starship Titanic here in the U.S. was a nice crosssover between SF promotion and software distribution.
Therel Moore
Austin TX
[Who wants to read another Dirk Gently Detective novel.]
Reality is just a clever Hack, and the Planck constant is the refresh rate.
What do you think of the U.S.-centric nature of the global culture, and are there any simple things you think people can do to mix in the best of other cultures into their mindset?
I saw the film. It's older and somewhat cheesy, but that adds to the humor of it. Be prepared, its LONG. I failed to notice the length of it when I rented it and ended up on the couch a lot longer than I planned to be.
"Say no more..." - Monty Python
I was just wondering why it took so long for the fastest computer ever built took so long to multiply 6x8. Did he run on NT or something? :)
Of course being sencient he could have chosen his own OS. I would suppose that it is defenatly possible that he bought stock in Microsoft and wanted to help increase their market share. The brightest and fasted computer ever built running on NT would certainly give MS a lot of publicity. They'd just have to market the performance problems as an "upgrade".
The Anti-Blog
Having read the whole series at least a half-dozen times, I feel that MH is my favorite, although I know most of your readers do not feel the same way... What I would like to know is this: Is there a plan to write another book using the concept that in an equally infinite number of probable universes, the guide was never bought out by the Vogons? (or would answering that make the concept unusable?)
-HobophobE
-HobophobE
Nothing laughs forever.
Could you list everything liscenced from your books? And perhaps, if you know, where said items are available? I know of the movie, radio show, games, a t shirt, a comic book, a a card set...but is that all? I sure hope not.
"You should never have your best trousers on when you turn out to fight for freedom and truth."
"You should never have your best trousers on when you turn out to fight for freedom and truth."
-Henrik Ib
This reminds of an interview the national Danish television once had with Kasparov concerning the match between him and Deep Thought. Due to Kasparovs funny english accent, the translator wrote "Deep Throught" in the subtitles :-)
-- A Mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems. - Paul Erdös
Why is the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy so incredibly cheap compared to other books?
I paid about a sixth of what I paid for Lord of the Rings and both had a hard cover and a lot of words in them.
Actually 42 was just a number he thought of at random. Ive read interviews where he answered this question. All significant references are entirely coincidental.
no
If you recall the book, 42 is not the meaning of life, it is the answer to 'The Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.'
Will you be my jesus?
PLEASE?????
----------------------------------
It's been about 10 years since I read any of the "trilogy" and although they are excellent books I don't read that much and never read them all. I think I read the first three.
So, me not getting it is probably the case here.
--
Because if it means the same thing as "multiplied by" then I think you meant to say "6 times 7 equals 42"
Or maybe I just didn't get the joke?
--
I think that he somewhere on www.douglasadams.com says something about it having first turned into another book in the hitchhiker trilogy.
Here's a link
Mikael Jacobson
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
So you don't ask questions that have already been asked, here is the alt.fan.douglas-adams FAQ and the alt.fan.douglas-adams MFAQ
HTH HAND
In Elite your rating starts at harmless, and eventually gets to mastly harmless too. Who is making a tribute to who?
ohmygod, I just thought of this, its really really deep man...
6*9=42 in base 13. why base 13? because earthlings are a bit superstitious about the number 13!! Remember when Ford burst through the 13th floor window of the hitchhikers guide building and found the *new and updated*, multidimensional guide?!! Using base thirteen was a premonition of the final destruction of the earth by the vogons after the new guide caused all the different multi-dimensional earths to coallesce into one dimension!!!!!!!
wow...
Dilbert: I have become one with my computer. It is a feeling of ecstacy... the blend of logic and emotion. I have reached...
later on Marvin was also plugged in to the Krikket (sp?) warship robots. his depression caused them to all give up, saving zaphod's life a couple of times and allowing him to break into the ship.
Dilbert: I have become one with my computer. It is a feeling of ecstacy... the blend of logic and emotion. I have reached...
Do you believe that Marvin is the inevitable result of all AI research, or that a balance can be struck between Artificial Intelligence and Artificial servitude?
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
Mod this UP. Whenever I need a laugh, I think of the image of Thor, God of Thunder, glued to the floor as punishment for his crimes.
--
Being a fan of both your works, and Tolkien's, I am curious if the ongoing project to film the LOTR has in any way made you consider a larger film project for the HHG series using state of the art effects?
Going on means going far
Going on means going far
Going far means returning
Douglas, any progress on further conservation projects? I know you've expressed interest in a TV-version of your book, "Last Chance to See". For that matter, what's Mark Cowardine up to these days?
I have seen lots of qoutes and foot notes in linux documentation from your books.
My question to you is what do you think about the 'geek culture' and the fact that you
and your books have become a part of it ?
42
How deeply were you affected as you did the work that went into Last Chance to See and do you think you will be writing any more books along the lines of either enviornmental awareness or first-hand exploration?
Could you please answer this long debated question?
but i'm thooo thirthty.....
[|]
hehe thanks
.oO0Oo.
I'm sure it would've made a great show too to have Ted there
I was just beginning to get food poisoning when I wrote that one.
Very tangy coleslaw - do no repeat
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Same with Basil Fawlty
.oO0Oo.
An odious man but you just see the despair in his eyes and see the despair in yourself
The only comedy worth watching is filled with pathos.
Ted Bundy knows that one married to Peg and all
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
$100 woohoo
.oO0Oo.
I stole mine from WH Smith's
i'm rich, stinking rich!!!
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
How flattered are you by the appearance of tribute versions of the guide?
http://www.h2g2.com/ - H2G2
http://www.galactic-guide.com - Project Galactic Guide
Would you like to see the next generation of mobile phones have easy access to a (slightly) frivolous version of the more serious travel guides we are sure to see?
There is no conspiracy
Mr. Adams, is there a God? Are you him? Are you and God old college buddies?
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you, becuase it's probly real big and could crush you or somthing." - From the Wise prov
no its not... 42 = 7 x 3 x 2. thats three primes.
--
http://gammatron.weblogger.com
Marvin, of course. He would talk Data into committing suicide.
However, he would not derive any satisfaction from his victory.
pornking
This is rather unrelated to your question to DNA, but if you are interested in mathetmatics as it relates to music, you may want to research/listen to many of the twentieth-century 12-tone/serialist composers, like Milton Babbit or Webern (who were offshoots of Schoenberg's original twelve-tone theory) as most of it's heavily based on mathematical relationships between various groups of notes and the like (especially those composers which used set theory).
look at the date of the post:
May 2nd
4/2
damnit, you guys aren't helping me out any.
--Hitchhacker
Damn straight. Western students have been caught on the fourth and fifth floors of Weldon engaging in all sorts of sexual activities; my guess is some of the Kinesiology students are claiming it as extra credit.
Five tons of flax.
I have always thought your books (Not just the Hitchiker's "Trilogy") would make a great movie or even mini-series. I have seen the one that the BBC did back in the 70s or early 80s, and just groan. Have you thought about a big budget movie or mini-series? I would love to see all 5 of the Hitchicker's with little to nothing cut (BBC did a fairly good job of not elliminating stuff, except the last quarter of the first book and the first half of the second). BBC could do a good hob on Dirk Gently. Anyways, love your work!
A Suffusion of Yellow.
Can Marvin beat than Superman? Is Superman faster than the Flash?
In HHGTTG you claimed that Vogon poetry was the third worst in the Universe.
After a brief description of the worst poet, you mentioned the second worst poet had died when the Earth was destroyed.
As this poet was obviously human, did you have anyone in mind?
Physicists are said to stand on one another's shoulders while programmers stand on one another's toes.
Did you read `the meaning of liff`? Funny!
I didnt think it was depressing...
I think this darkness is a Buddhist thing, not a brit thing...`all life is suffering`.. no?
Was this (the punishment, only in the radio series i think, where really naughty people were taken to this planet and shown how insignificant they are) anything to do with experiences with hallucinogenic plants (or related)?
I`ve always wondered about this....
Alex.
`the hitchhikers guide to europe`
I guess you missed the game "Starship Titanic" that he put out in 1998. It has its own website at www.starshiptitanic.com.
It's been going around on the alt.fan.douglas-adams newsgroup for a while that he said that "Salmon of Doubt" was turning out to be more in the style of Hhgttg, so he was changing it into a sequel in that series and not the Dirk Gently series. Also that it was partially on hold while he was working on the script for a Hhgttg movie with director Jay Roach of "Austin Powers" fame.
Will there ever be another sequel to the trilogy of five? If so, how do you plan to reserruct Arthur & the crowd? I always felt that Zaphod mellowing out just didn't quite cut it.
Quid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Anything said in Latin, sounds profound.
What was the deal with the book for Starship Titanic? Sorry, but it was pretty average. It should have been left to the writer to write it, not the actor/comedian based on your concepts...
-"I still believe in revolution; I just don't capitalize it anymore." - srini!
How about that for a question..
Years after reading of the adventures of Dirk Gently, I happened to learn a bit about quantum physics. I was struck by the similarities between quantum theory and the 'fundamental interconnectedness' of all things. Were you thinking of quantum physics when you wrote this, or was it more of a nod to chaos theory (butterflies in New York, monsoons in Tokyo type stuff)?
Oh, and just wanted to let you know that thanks to you, I still look for instructions on each box of toothpicks I find, just to reassure myself that I am, indeed, still sane.
These people looked deep into my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.
One good reason to use base 13 is if you actually have thirteen fingers (dare I say digits?)
Like the Traveller Fithp in the Niven & Pournelle book 'Footfall'.
Whatever happened to Fenchurch? Where'd she go to? Arthur was most interesting with her KillerPenguin --------- "The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they'll be when you kill them."
incidently, in the radio version (iirc), right after arthur reads the scrabble message ("what do you get if you multiply six by nine") there is a deep voice heard which says "base thirteen".
Don't criticise someone who is attempting to use free software for not using enough free software.
Username taken, please choose another one.
As a trilogy it worked, but then it seemed you were meandering a little with the last two (IMHO ;-). If you had had an inkling as to how big Hitch Hiker's guide would become, would you have made any major changes to the plots of the first three and conciously planned a five book series?
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
Most of my questions have already been asked, but..
Someone has already asked about a possible connection with Louis Carrol. (The number 42 and all) I haven't seen anyone point out that the number 42 is also the meaning of life in Monty Python and the Meaning of Life. (I just learnined this a few days ago, myself.) Is there a connection there?
Also, I recently did a survey asking people to pick the first number between 0 and 100 (exclusive) to enter their head. Surprisingly many picked 42. This may of course be due to the influence of your books, but I think some other force is at work. In many situations, when forced to come up with a number quickly, 42 seems to come up. i.e. "Even your briefcase says inspected by #42" (Robin Williams joking about Nasa's troubled flights.) For some reason, our subconscious generates the number 42. It's odd.
Also, did you know of the actual theory that could be used to describe the Heart of Gold when you wrote this? (If all the electrons in given object simultaneously move a distance in the same direction at an incredible small probability...) My favorite explanation is that the beer teleports out of the can...
A few assorted questions:
How is Marvin doing?
If a piece of fairy cake drops in the forest, does it make a sound?
If you could start over again, would you do anything differently? i.e. Go directly to book form.
When will the new Disney version of HHGTTG be out?
"I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy." -Richard Feynman
Do you think your brand of (often fairly black and cynical) comedy ever threatens to tip over into despair?
Or is it cheerful and optimistic in that it attacks the stupid and pointless (e.g. town-planners-as-Vogons, or the unnecessary gadgets that go ping to tell you they've finished)?
andy.
PS Huge fan, nice one on the books.
I noticed that those are out of print now but I've seen some places special ordering them for over $100. Do you have any plans to bring these back into print?
kwsNI
Also, your thoughts about Java, that bastard son of Infocom's wonderful virtual machine... ;)
Fuck 'im up, Tim! His views are invalid! -Pirate Corp$
First of all :Funniest damn books ever written by man.
Are you as tired of seeing 42 appear everywhere?
On the Xfiles alone has been a couple of 42 references.(Apt number on Mulders door was changes to 42, and in the latest episode he used it).
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Carefull. People kept bugging him for more HH books. Finally he killed all the characters just to shut them up. So if you dont want Dirk Gently killed, be quite.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I have thought about this for along time. I have come to this relization:
"What is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything?" is the ultimate question.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
ok, Marvin would win. Marvin is superior, he has always had emotions, and a sense of humor.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Bender. and afterwords he'd say "Bite me shiny metal ass!"
Of course that would leave marvin bent, so he would be happy because he had something miserable happen to him, and he could complain about how it made him depressed.
later, after the Marvin vs Bender, I'm sure they would have to deliver a package of white mice somewhere...
Jeez, I just had a million funny HH reference they could put in Futurama flash before my eyes!
I got to go write an episode Yes we do, bed wetter.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Broken glass in my pants man!
If you want to read the funniest SuperHero book ever written, find a copy of "How to be a superhero!"
I laughed my ass off! -- No ass man
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Some time ago, you spoke at my university (Washinton University) about an endangered species of bird, indigenous to New Zealand (apparently this bird mates once every seven years or so).
That same year, the former prime minister of New Zealand (his name escapes me right now) spoke at my university about an endangered species of bird, indigenous to New Zealand (once again, a bird that mates every seven years or so).
My question is: are you the former Prime Minister of New Zealand?
idn't they try to jack Marvin into a race of machines at one point, and once the sheer volume of depression he felt hit them, they all committed suicide? On the planet Magrathea while everyone was mucking about in the planet. Marvin was outside when a Blagulon Kappa policecraft landed and went to capture Zaphod. Marvin them decided to talk to the ship plugged in explained his view of the Universe and it promptly committed suicide.
Dont be paranoid we are out to get you.
TomV
this may just be a result of your fiction permeating my perceptions, but anyway...
What's your reaction to the way that ever since the HHGTTG's first radio appearances, your, let's face it, pretty dystopian fiction reads more and more like a blueprint from which we're building our society? The whole DolManSaxLil Shoe Corporation was uncomfortably close to the bone at the time, but I'd swear that today, somewhere, some shoe exectuive really is thinking 'ah, join them at the heels, great idea!'. The talking lifts aren't that far from the websites that seem to say 'you want to look at Product A? Product B's very nice actually' and try to predict what you'll be buying in five minutes. And does Eddie live on in Win95 (ob-MS-flame)
TomV
Not to say I didn't adore the book, seeing as, since I did, that would be (a) dishonest and (b) counterproductive, but was this more because you were keen on the material and wanted to get it out in the open, or the infamous Publisher-With-A-Baseball-Bat-Demanding-NewStuff (tm) thing again?
TomV
I am interested, what do you think makes your books so popular in the first place?
What do you think the result of H2G2 being so popular will have on the world (or galaxy) as a whole?
This Post has 42 words!
Is there any chance of a sequel to Last Chance to See? There are, unfortunately, a lot more species on the brink of extinction, and I'm sure you'd not want for subjects. It was nice to see an unflinching look at biodiversity loss that still managed to convey some hope, and even humor...
You hit the nail right on the head. If I ever had a chance to meet Douglas Addams that would be a question I would put to him. He ended mostly harmless in a manner that was very carefull not to leave any real possibility of another book in the series, at least not one involving the Earth, Ford Prefect, Arthur Dent, or Trillian. I had the distinct impression that the Vogon captains satisfaction at Earths total obliteration from all possibility was Douglas Addams satisfaction as well. I still enjoy his body of work, though I can't help thinking that he inwardly winces at the mention of THG2TG and wishes that the fans would move on like he has.
Me a troll, me no gnome, me smash ye head and break ye bones.
That sounds like "City of Death." It was toward the end of Tom Baker's era. I can't recall if it was in his last or second-last season. A bit of a strange title, without much to do with the story.
That was one of the first Doctor Who episodes I saw as a kid. I was about eight or nine years old at the time and I used to watch the show with my dad. The bit at the end of episode three where the scientist got caught in the aging machine and turned into a skeleton scared the pants off me as a kid. I think my mom even chastised my dad for showing me something that scared me so much!
Oh, yes. Good ol' Eric Saward. That makes a lot of sense now. Did you know that he was a little paranoid? According to the Sixth Doctor Handbook, Mr. Saward used to call Colin Baker (actor who played the Sixth Doctor) on the phone at night and talk for hours about how he thought the producer, John Nathan-Turner, was trying to either diminish his role or kick him off the show. Eventually Mr. Baker would have to say, "Listen, Eric, I don't think John is trying to fire you. It's 2:00 AM. I need my sleep!"
And of course, there was the flap over the ending to "Trial of a Time Lord"...
I wonder what connection I had in my head between Douglas Adams and the two Dalek stories? The BBC's online episode guide won't give me any information on the writer or script editor for those stories. I'll have to examine this in closer detail. I'll check the Sixth Doctor Handbook when I get home...
Thanks for pointing that out!
I hope no one else beat me to the punch on this...
Apparently 6 times 9 does equal 42... In base 13.
In base 10, it equals 54, but if you convert 54 to base 13, it is written as "42", just as in base 16 (hexadecimal) it is written as "36".
6 * 9 = 54 (base 10)
54 / 13 =~ 4.154
54 Mod 13 = 2 (remainder when evaluating 54/13)
Therefore, 54 (base 10) = 42 (base 13)
4 * 13 + 2 = 54
See?? Deep Thought was right.
I wonder if IBM's "Deep Blue" got its name from "Deep Thought."
The other Dr. Who that Douglas Adams wrote was *Remembrance* of the Daleks...
"Remembrance of the Daleks" was written by Ben Aaronovitch.
Just to make sure we're thinking of the same stories, "Resurrection of the Daleks" was a Fifth Doctor story, "Revelation of the Daleks" was a Sixth Doctor story, and "Remembrance of the Daleks" was a Seventh Doctor story. I believe the first two were written by Douglas Adams.
Doctor Who spoilers ahead...
As to whether "Remembrance of the Daleks" was good or not, some fans consider it one of the best stories, others consider it one of the worst. I think it's pretty cool, but the Doctor was a total wimp when he said, "You killed it..." after Ace blew a Dalek's head off with a rocket launcher. Damn it, Doctor, those things are better off dead! The show also had perhaps too many self-indulgent references, although I think what the BBC announcer said on the TV in that house Ace was visiting was pretty good. Makes you wonder, too, eh? Finally, why oh why did the BBC have to use videotape to shoot the McCoy stories? It makes the stories look so glossy and superficial, and, well, really fake, too. It really sucked the way they started pulling money out of the show toward its end.
That'd be 'Al Bundy'
It was a big fat book with the green guy on the cover. It was the first 4 HHG2G books. The 5th one was more recent. They had it in the library, that was about 3 years ago.
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
The BBC store at http://www.bbcshop.com/bbc_shop/ shows HGTTG on both CD & cassette (although the CDs are "temporarily unavailable"). These might be the radio shows (they also might be the re-recorded versions they released on LP at the time).
Do you believe that all people have innate ability to be funny? Some people live their lives under incredible hardship and still manage to be decent human beings. Do you think humour is capable of shaping culture, life, universe, and everything?
Are you clinically insane?
hysterical and useless...
It seems that the point of Mostly Harmless was that..umm, what's his name,the Vogon leader was trying to destroy not only the Earth, but everyone who was ever on it. He uses the Mach V Guide (or whatever) to gather everyone on Earth, in every dimension and then destroys all the Earths. BUT, he forgot Elvis!! Elvis was still in that bar. Or does this just prove that Elvis was not of this world?
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
sfc
standing on the shoulders of giants,leaves me cold
Go to
If there is some mistake in a computer somewhere, and by accident nuclear warheads are launched around the earth, will all my VHS tapes be demagnetized?
I wonder what is about the pattern of the brains in zapods head. You seemed to be up to more at that pont in HHGTTG.
Bollocks!
Adams has said that he has never knowingly written a joke in base thirteen.
Enough forty-twos already!
"Information wants to be paid"
I once read in a PCGamer article about Starship titanic that you were an extremely advid Mac user. I was wonering what thoughts you had on the Linux revolution and about swithcing OS's?
Theres one problem with reflecting your reality, sometimes your reality starts to reflect you.
Yes.
Thursdays are MUCH worse than wednesdays... sure, wednesdays are bad, it being the middle of the week and all, but by thursday, the week has droned on for 24 more hours than it had on wednesday... fridays would be even worse, but its friday and everyone knows that the weekend starts that night. thursdays are the worst day of the week, with the POSSIBLE exception of a hung-over monday.
They're great books, thanks. Approximately one question:
Will an upgrade to the "new" guide allow transportation between the real and fictional worlds?
Is the Guide open source?
If so, does that mean that time travel (using the "new" guide from Mostly Harmless) is open source and as such open source must have been invented by some poor person from the future looking to make money from the guide by investing in redhat and andover.net, etc on the stock market?
In fact, would NowWhat have a stock market, or would that be too interesting?
---
"will linux run with windows 95 or do I need to upgrade?" - Overheard
1. What is the status on the upcoming movie? I see it listed on the IMDB, but haven't heard anything about it. Is that just a rumor, or is it happening?
2. What makes you think you can possibly outdo the 1981 mini-series? Seriously who are you kidding? That was the greatest Book -> TV transition I have ever seen. What better way to portray your book than with a cheesy Dr. Who'ish / Red Dwarf'ish BBC series with a special effects budget of $1.50.
That is all.
-
God's last words to his creation are only to be seen by the TRUELY DEVOUT!! jeez! you have a moral oblgation to tell everyone to read the book if they want to know!! I plan on living forever; so far, so good.
"Nobody writes jokes in base 13." - Douglas Adams
Actually it was made as a TV show in the early 80's by the BBC. The original was six half-hour parts, but later (VHS) versions had some extra footage inserted that didn't make it to the TV screen.
> Why the hell was Trillian a blonde?
Why not? Trillian in the books is a completely different charcter from the radio show, who was again different from the TV show. The same goes for all the characters. There's a reason Douglas Adams describes them as 'Different and conflicting versions', and it ain't just because they all follow different storylines.
> And why did Zaphod have one floppy head that never said anything?
Actually he did say a couple of things, but not all that many. The reason is this: it was the 80's. Money to spend on special effects budgets and the like was tight. Look at just about any sci-fi made by the BBC in that timeframe. Doctor Who and Blakes' Seven in particular- cardboard sets, no FX budget at all. HHGTTG's computer graphics were all drawn by hand because the company that made them couldn't afford a computer. Things were so bad because the budget was tiny.
--
Said it couldn't last, said it wouldn't last... This is the last stand against tomorrow's world.
Have you seen other sites out there with your books as the main topic and what do you think of them? I think that Floor 42 is one of the best examples of a fan website I have ever seen.
This interview is well timed since just this past Saturday I picked up several of your books at a used book store in Northern Virginia. I already owned a couple of them but bought these copies because I hadn't seen the cover art on any other copies I had come across.
Thanks for the enjoyable reading and I look forward to more in the future.
Eric
Where am I going and how did I get in this handbasket?
According to a book on the history of Python
(Monty Python Speaks) Douglas Adams didn't write very much at all for Python, (Adams claims that about two words of his ever made it to broadcast), although he did write a small amount with Graham Chapman, and drive the entire Python crew the wrong way up a motorway in a camper van.
Towards the end of your lecture last year in San Francisco,
you shared your vision of a half-virtual, half-real world where
people would move effortlessly in and out of each (or maybe
I was on LSD?) .
Anyway, how have you (or haven't you) seen the world
move in that direction in the last year?
You've been using computers for a while now -- not only as things to write on, but things to write for. So how do they compare to what you imagined and wrote about? What don't they do that you'd really want -- and what do they do that maybe you never thought of, but is impressive anyway? And would you want to use any of the computers you wrote about?
Carousel is a lie!
Umm, i'm afraid 42 in binary is actually 101010 (i have a screen name, mir101010, along with my usual clouds42). I believe in base 13, although i haven't checked it in a while, 6 X 9 is 42. However, after seeing Adams in person, (if I recall correctly) he admitted that he wasn't aware of this fact when he wrote it and it was meant for humor, nothing else.
(Yet More Questions For The Great And Honored Douglas Adams)
What inspired you to write the Hitchiker's Guide series?
Can you go into some detail on Eccentrica Galumbus? (did I spell the name right?)
This
In most of your books you had a neat obsession for penguins, is that because:
1) You have a hidden Linux box in your closet
2) They are to darn cute or
3) Because that is what the unused part of the brain is occupied with.
what is life but a sensation of feelings, and what is time but a collection of experiences...
So, in your opinion, what is the closest approximation of a Pan Galatic Gargle Blaster that can be found here on Earth? (Basically, what do you choose to smash your brains out?)
It's people who have more time on their hands then the actual creators do who make literature great.
Here we have dozens of people claiming to have the answer, and yet buried among these is an actual quote from DNA stating that he just decided on 42 for no reason. None of the reasons that our fellow colleagues are presenting have any relation to the real reason, but they refuse to accept that maybe they are thinking about it more then the original thinker thought.
Thanks people. Without people like you, Star Wars would have about 1/42 of the plot depth that it had when George Lucas originally wrote it.
I build model citizens.
Well, are you a geek?
What OS/Desktop environment do you use?
Have you used Linux/Unix?
What do you think of the opensource movement?
Have you considered an opensource book?
------
www.chowda.net
------
YouTube & Google Video -> podcast http://castcluster.blogspot.com/
If I were to write an open-source Vogon poetry generator, would you sue me for copyright infringement?
(-It would really help get me some notoriety)
-
air and light and time and space
Any chance for more Dirk Gentry's Holistic Detective Agency Books Or is two our limit?
..which just shows that the human brain is ill-adapted for thinking and was probably designed for cooling the blood-T P
As someone who is clearly interested in digital media and especially novel user interfaces (viz: The Guide concept, MacOS(?!), the speech interface in Starship Titanic, h2g2.com), where do you think user interfaces are going?
Is the whole current computer-based web free-for-all thing a step in the right direction, or just another hopeless attempt to make all this information useful for everyone?
-Jon
I'm not Douglas Adams, but as far as I can remember, the reason for stealing the heart of gold was to enable Zaphod and that Zarniwoop character to get to the guy who rules the Universe. Which they did, although Zaphod apparently lost interest in the whole idea somewhere along the way... and the reason for the memory block I've either forgotten or never really figured out anyway.
I always believed that this was inspired by the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons; you know, where Wile E. doesn't fall until he realizes that he should be.
Mr. Adams: I really enjoyed your books. I am interested in any "techniques" you use to get your creative juices flowing. (i.e. Beating up old ladies?). Are there any tips you would like to share with those of us aspiring writers interested in enhancing the creative process? My biggest problem seems to be I never know which voice I'm supposed to be speaking in, the first, 2nd, or 3rd and I'm the one writing the bloody thing.
Who put the bop in the bop-shoo-bop-shoo-bop?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Thanks!
Douglas,
I've been doing planning for travels in Europe, and I hope to squeeze in some time to explore the UK, and places mentioned in HG2TG as I've never been out of the States. I was inspired as an early teen (like many) by the concept of a lone human in space, as the HG2TG books stuck a chord with my then growing sense of life and maturity. It gave me a sense of independance that I felt through the character, and I hope to acheive that feeling to a greater extent with travel.
Question: Like HG Wells, your fiction is becoming reality through the guide that is the Internet. From WAP phones to webpads, what advice do you have for internet-enabled travellers? Is this technology, in your opinion, useful? Or are you sick of all and just think us nerds should rough it?
What kind of creative control did you have over the development of Starship Titanic?
Friends don't let friends use multiple inheritance.
Hello,
I think you misunderstand the term. Atheism is the beleif that there are not any gods. It would be silly to be mad or sad at something because it does not exist.
As for being radical or agressive about it...how would you like to live in a culture that shoves (xtian) god down your throat constantly?
Tom
Reality does not happen until you analyze the dots. -Don DeLillo (Underworld)
What sorts of human artifacts will be most attractive for Calculating Machine* collectors in, say, the next 400 years or so? -fbm (* as in sentient, calculating machine type entity folk)
actually, 6 X 9 = 54, which in base 13 is 42, the math is done in decimal, and then converted to base 13
Mr. Adams, a couple of questions:
1) Which day do you think we should all take out the trash? I'm leaning towards Thursdays (I never could get the hang of Thursdays) but I cannot decide.
2) The BBC airings of the miniseries-of-sorts version of the Guide trilogy stayed very close to the books. Did you have control over the project, or did the makers just not put down your books?
3) If you could be a lunchmeat, what kind would you be?
4) If (and if) a sixth Trilogy book comes out, will you consider changing the "trilogy" concept to "sexiligy" (heeheehee)?
5) How are you able to keep all the universes and co-existing slices of Mish-Mash together in your head as you write? I can understand how it would be difficult to do so. Share your secrets!
6) Do you prefer tea, or coffee?
*****
"Stupid risks are what make life worth living!" -Homer Simpson
Here's a couple:
1. Have you ever considered releasing a work only on the interenet, ala Mr. King?
2. Do you see h2g2.com competing with everything2.com? Ever think of hooking up? They seem to trying to accomplish the same goal.
3. "Mostly Harmless" seemed to have an air of "Let's just get this over with and kill off all the characters." Was one of the goals of the book to make another sequel impossible, or at least not expected?
4. Which character in the HHGTTG books would you associate with most? Or do you think that each exhibits characteristics that we all have from time to time? (e.g. The hedonistic Zaphod, the helpless Dent.)
5. Do you like science fiction in general, or do you just find it a convenient medium in which wierd and zany things can happen to your characters?
6. Having imagined an all-pervasive source of information years before anyone else, what do you think is the future of the internet? Were you surprised when life imitated art in this way?
7. Is the story about you lying in a field (drunk I believe), while hitch-hiking true?
8. Do you have a work currently in progress? If so, what is it about?
Thanks for the reads...
Although the long and overly drawn out discussion (that has been answered with direct-from-the-author info about 5 times over) is fascinating; I'd like to submit a question for Mr. Adams...
The Hitchhiker series, along with your Dirk Gently novels, all seem to contain running streams of information that could be interpreted as having deep meaning. Whether or not you intentionally included these apparent tidbits of wisdom to me is irrelevant. My question is, when you look at or think about your works in a literary sense, do you regard them as 'good literature'...books that should be considered 'classics' or do you just think of them as a big load of fluff that is fun to read?
...and...
If you do classify these books as serious literature and not fluff, what author(s) or book(s) do you like to think of your works as being on par with?
N_____
Was it your own recipe or the traditional Douglas Adams slice-of-lemon-wrapped-around-a-brick GargleBlaster?
Did the Chronicler in "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe" ever remember the point to the story?
This space for rent.
What's up with Dirk Gently?
Please don't ask him anything about the number 42. Back a few years ago, he used to hang out in alt.fan.douglass.adams, and from what I hear, was driven away by countless theories and psychoanalysis of the meaning behind 42. The point is, there is no meaning for 42. It is just 7 x 6 (although, in the edition of HHGTTG that I first read, there was a misprint... 7 x 8, which I thought was another subtle form of [something, hadn't quiet figured it out yet])
This story can be found in the preface of the Big Green Book, the Big Blue Book, or either of the leatherbound books. (I think the names are the Complete Hitchhiker's Guide and the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, or something along those lines.) I have them all at home. :)
---
$ su
who are you?
$ whoami
whoami: no login associated with uid 1010.
I rented the film at blockbuster.
---
$ su
who are you?
$ whoami
whoami: no login associated with uid 1010.
However, it looks like you decided that you've had your fill of Arthur Dent (as evidenced by the fact that you made sure he was dead, dead, dead at the end of Mostly Harmless).
Given that you are the most successful sci-fi humor writer ever, and probably do not need to work another day in your life if you don't want to, what is currently lighting your fire? What I mean is, what kind of stories do you hope to create over the next few years? More Holistic Detective stories? Another sci-fi epic? Perhaps something completely different?
Thank you for all your great work so far.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Mostly harmless was the best book of the whole series. It presented a realistic side to the characters. Furthermore, how else was he supposed to end the series "they all live hapily ever after". Yea right that would be so stupid! Not to mention, because of how it endit you don't have to put up with all those nagging thoughts of "Gee I wonder what happend after the book ended". And what about the sandwitch maker? that has got to be the funniest thing I've ever read in my entire life. It was a stroke of genius!!! And how can you say that this is sad book the whole way through Arthur was happy for the first time in his entire life while he was making sandwhiches.
Anyway while Im writing I'll post my question.
Where on earth(or off the earth for that matter) did Douglas Adams get the insperation for the sandwhichmaker?
--42--
who except someone with an english major would ask such a STUPID Question?
--42--
However, I think that the question still has to be:
Mr Adams, how did you feel as you wrote the Guide?
I'm sure that you were and still are deeply amused by all our attempts to exert control over our lives, but is that lighter moode not underlaid by a darker sense of, perhaps, sadness, or inevitablity?
Later . . . . . . WebBug
The geek in me has been wondering for years: Are you a programmer? I ask because in one of your books (Dirk Gently I think) you get into a story about a guy making a BASIC program to determine how to get couch out of the bend in the stairway, afterwhich the program determined it was impossible for it to have gotten stuck there to begin with. You also supposedly worked very closely with the creation of Infocom's rendition of Hitchhiker and then later with Starship Titanic (so much, in fact, with Starship that you asked Terry Jones to write the novel for you). What do you do when you are making these games that keeps you so busy?
---
"Duane Dibbley?" -- Duane Dibbley
Actually, I believe it's 6 times 9 you're thinking of. Oh, and "Sorry for the inconvenience" was God's final message to his creation, not the significance of 6 x 9 = 42. I won't tell you what the significance is because everyone should read all five books in the trilogy (6 if you count Zaphod's little story).
---
"Duane Dibbley?" -- Duane Dibbley
Bunsen
Bugrit! Millenium hand and shrimp!
I caught the Arthur Dent thing, I was just saying I don't remember it being mentioned when he was telling the story of how he got the idea.
No time for
Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a very interesting fact, and I would mod you up if I had any points.
No time for
I think that the introduction to the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (A collection of all the Hitchhikers Guide books) had some mention of where he got the idea. It was something about hitchhiking through Europe with a book called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe", or something to that effect, maybe "How to Travel Europe on 5 Pounds a Day," I don't have it handy. He was lying on his back in a field, drunk, looking at the stars, and wondered if there was a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That is all I remember about it.
No time for
Have I missed the thread? Surely someone's thought to ask Douglas where his towel's at? You sass?
I've seen Adams answer this before. It's generally something along the lines of that he hasn't read Pratchett, and though he's aware of the comparisons, doesn't know enough to comment on their validity. He hasn't ever met Pratchett either as I recall.
Heh, pretty much get a strange look I think when you ask him if he thought his books would develop a cult-like following. And a thoughtful "No, there's no way you can really plan that" or something to that effect.
I'm pretty certain I can vouch for the fact that DNA will not answer and will in fact frown upon any question that suggests he knows more about the fictional universe he writes in than what he's already written in the books. Real questions about the real world go over much better with him and in fact gain us more insight in the long run.
Altavista now has a permanent link to h2g2.com on the bottom of their babelfish pages. As I understand it, this satisfied any copyright conflict. My guess is that someone named it that because they were a fan.
This will very definitely be met with a simple no or even a sarcastic remark.
Someone's going to notice that I'm going through here replying to all these questions, but I assure you my only intention is to help you get the most mileage out of only 10 questions. Ask a frequently asked one and we learn nothing new.
After writing the successful Hitchhiker and your other works (Starship Titanic, etc.), do you feel pressured by your audience to produce literature that is shaped around what your audience expects?
Mr. Adams, which do you think will happen first: the entropic heat-death of the universe, 200 billion years from now or so, or the general public no longer believing in an invisible man in the sky who actively modifies their lives via magic? I expect the heat-death.
I've always felt the Dirk Gently universe and the limitless possibilities it presents would be an ideal playground for a writer's imagination. Often I found the situations in that series far more interesting than some of the plots in the HH trilogy... Why haven't we seen anything since The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul? Can we expect any more of Gently and his Hollistic adventures sometime in the future? trick
Was there ever an actual "Ultimate Question To Life, the Universe, and Everything" in your mind as you wrote HHGG? And if so, do you care to divluge what it was / is / could be?
42 = life , the universe and everything = interactions and reactions between particles = mathematical equations of the forces which let 2 things interact= insane mathematical complexity, which brings a lack of randomness = 42, at first glance a totally random number. Does 42 actually represent the link between randomness and pattern? Does 42 relate to something that is nothing like the above? Maybe something which stems both randomness and pattern? I might be insane, but with the help of the contemplation of 42, my life has been changed forever.
Dear Mr. Adams,
My questions:
1. Is the galaxy a metaphor for the United States of America?
2. What European nation are the Vogons a metaphor for?
When are your new books due out? No, seriously...I know that bottling up such potent humor and creativity must be giving you a nasty case of "Blue head." :) Niftyness
------
Let me give you the lowdown
Why do buttered cats always land on their backs, and unbuttered cats land on their feet when tossed?
The story goes this way: The answer to the question of life, the universe and everything is implanted in Arthur's brainwave patterns because he was a part of the original computer program to find the question to the answer. But the question in his brain (and therefore the question he pulls out of the scrabble bag) are wrong because the computer didn't take the crash of the gulgafrinchans into account. So, from the very beginning, Earth's program was skewed--the cavemen were designed to find the question, not the aliens. So any answer taken from arthur's head is wrong, because he wasn't a part of the proigram in the first place. > and this is one of the EASIER plotlines to explain. geez. Oh, and as to the whole 6X9 thing--someone else said it--6X9=54, which is 42 in base 13. Ta da!
Woohoo. First post. And it's on a nitpicky lit/math point, nice. The point of the '6x9=42' was, i thought, that the message (the Ultimate Question) had been 'garbled in transmission'by its passage through Arthur's DNA; thus, it was wrong. 6x7=42, after all. Ford Prefect says something to that effect. I think all the hooha over base 13 and binary is interesting, but.
So, when ya' gunna write another book?
Hmmm. Who's Duane Dibbley? Dwain's french cousin?
I meant that he acts a little bit like a preacher for his atheism and I do not quite understand his intentions. I can absolutely understand if someone defends his religion, but as you said atheism is the belief that there are not any gods, so what is the point preaching it to someone.
What are your plans for the future? Write another book? If yes, then scifi or something else like the deeper meaning of liff? Or something completely different?
Mr. Adams,
Although they weren't as criticly acclaimed as the HGTTG series, I found your Dirk Gently books (especially Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) to be... well.. literary genius.
Can we expect to see any more Dirk books?
--synaptik
If you want to flame me, do so here.
HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
NO CARRIER
So when I discovered (years ago) that you had written an episode for the BBC series Dr. Who, my emotional reaction was matched only by my dispair when I found that it was never aired.
So now the question: Did you indeed write this rumoured episode? What was your connection with Dr. Who before and after? What wasyour reaction to the episode not being aired? Have you written episodes for other TV series'?
Thanks!
--Chouser
--Chouser
--Chouser
"To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." -LL
Have you played with Everything or Everything 2; how do you feel they compare to the h2g2.com effort to create a real-world Guide?
--
Bad question as it stands. The books were a spin-off from the radio series.
There's something about British Pop Culture (writing, music, whatever) that keeps it, if not quite a step ahead, certainly a step away from the rest of Western pop culture. Is it the 'island mentality'? The 'stiff upper lip'? Do you swap anecdotes, wives and pints of Guinness with others of your ilk, Gaiman, Pratchet, the cast of Monty Python and Robert Smith? What is it with you guys? Where does it come from and where is it going? How can you all be so damn British all the time?
In any case, keep it up!
**>>BELCH
since i was too young when you wrote hhgttg, i've always wondered: which came first: lint collecting navels, or your book encouraging lint collecting?
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
An optimist believes we live in the best possible universe. A cynic fears that we do. What category would you say that you fall under?
I LOVE the h2g2.com site. This is a well-thought out site, and really shows the potential of Internet-enabled collaboration.
Was it your intention to make what could become the ultimate travel guide (beating Michellin's Guides like a dirty rug), or was it just for funsies?
Now, if I could just fit it on my Palm...
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
Great post, but as others have pointed out Adams contributed 3 stories, 2 as script editor: 'The Pirate Planet' ('Key to Time': Graham Williams and Anthony Reed as Script Editor and Producer), 'City of Death' (under the pseudonym of 'David Agnew' with producer Graham Williams) and the before mentioned Shada as William's last story as 'Doctor Who' producer, had it finished production. (Going out on 'Horns of the Nimon' was quite a shame for Williams instead.) Anyway, it is quite clear when you read 'Dirk Gently's Holographic Detective Agency' that the reason these three stories had not been novelised is because they already WERE novelised, just with the names changed and the scenes rearranged in Adams subsequent books. To novelise the 'Doctor Who' stories would mean repeating themes he's already covered twice and he no more wants that that to have his work cheapened by association with the likes of Terrence Dicks, his predecessor, who did much of the novelisations of the 'Doctor Who' series. BTW, Dicks rocks as an author too, so there! :)
As for the two Dalek stories you list, it is true they have yet to be novelised but this has nothing to do with Adams. By the time these stories were produced in the mid 1980s Adams was already world-famous for his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of books -- perhaps more famous even that 'Doctor Who' itself -- and certainly had no more interest in the series in which he got his start. In fact those stories were written by former script editor Eric Seward, who left the series on a somewhat more acrimonious note and thus out of spite has disallowed his stories from being novelised. This has very little to do with the Nation estate as the stories were sanctioned by Nation -- they had to be or they could not have been produced by the BBC.
Incidentally, since the BBC, not the author, owns the rights to ALL the 'Doctor Who' series videos, it is likely what ever of those 5 stories remain unreleased on video to this day WILL be in the eventuality of time. In fact, a polished off version of 'Shada' HAS already been released.
Be Seeing You,
Jeffrey.
Time Lord, Dark Horse: The Techno Mage of Gallifrey
I have only one question... what ever happened to Zaphoid? He lasered away parts of his brain so he could become president and steal the heart of gold.. but the loose ends were never tied up on that subplot - why did Zaphoid need to steal the heart of gold? Perhaps the answer is in the book and I missed it.. if so, kindly pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated as well!
but first..
How long does it take a monkey with three wooden legs to kick all the seeds out of a cucumber?
As to Res & Rev of the Daleks, I'm pretty sure they have been shown on UKGold(A BBC spinoff in the UK) recently.
I think Resurrection of the Daleks was on last Sunday. If it was, it means that Revelation of the Daleks should be one in about a month. If you have any mates in the UK with satellite, and the capability to view PAL, you might be in luck. Unless someone has encoded it and uploaded it(doubt it).
Various people have taken the idea of the Guide online in various fashions--there was the old version of the Hitchhiker's Guide, the new polished hh2g.net that assumes the rights on all submitted material, and then there's the www.Everything2.com system which is a more open-source, and more serious, approach to the whole idea.
I realize that due to licensing agreements, you might not be able to speak at the question I'd like to ask, so; on a more general note, how do you feel about 'open-source' information and information sharing? Will it be the arena of a huge, intergalactic publishing company or will it be a compilation of individual efforts? or a combination?
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
Nearly ten years after Last Chance to See, the Earth is still trying desperately to go to hell in a handbasket, despite the basket's excellent functionality as a sieve to a ball of mud. What does working on a project like Last Chance to See mean to you now?
Hi Mr. Adams,
Since reading your books in the eighth grade, I have never forgotten to keep my towel with me at all times. This simple advice has gotten me out of countless jams, including a run-in with a ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.
So, thank you.
Now, though, I am older. I want to hand down your words of wisdom to my children and my children's children.
Is there some place I could buy a leather-bound set of your books suitable to become family heirlooms, that your words may rest aside those of Shakespeare and Chaucer in my library?
Thanks,
--Corey
Not only will they not deserve liberty or safety, Mr. Franklin, they will be DENIED both!
Greg
What is the question?
To me, your particular brand of humor tells us something about the absurdity and pomposity of, well, pretty much everything. Yet an exquisite sensitivity to irony in the everyday can be a dangerous thing. The great Tom Lehrer stopped writing and performing music because he felt he'd become to bitter and angry to be funny anymore.
Is this a problem for you? Are there days where you just wake up and don't find things funny anymore?
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Being born in 1952 a year before Watson and Crick published their findings about the structure of DNA, your parents couldn't have known of the significance of those initials at the time. Were you teased as a child? And do you attach any metaphysical philosophical significance to such a coincidence? Do you find it disturbing that others have tried to find such significance fore you?
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
The exact quote is "what do you get when you multiply six by nine?"
:o)
That's right. But I always thought that the joke was that they pulled a perfectly valid question out of the bag randomly, but that the actually calculation was wrong (at least in Base 10).
As if it was under direct influence of the Improbability Drive.
Breace.
I think that David Lee Roth is the best possible person choice to portray Zaphod in a movie.
Do you have any opinions on casting, should the movie ever appear?
-nme!
Have you figured out how to translate your delightful prose from novel format to cinema format? For example, your commentary on digital watches and the beings who wear them is still funny to me even though I've read it two dozen times, yet I don't feel that it would be appropriate in a movie. In the short-lived video series, it just bogged down the action. Yet it still needs to be there somehow, otherwise the resulting film would not have the flavor of the original Hitchhikers. No matter what you come up with, however, it will be loved as much as the original books.
This brings up a really important question for Douglas:
Do you find it more than slightly annoying that everyone wants to talk about what you wrote years ago, or a sequel to something that you wrote, and seems to get hung up on certain words and phrases that you tossed off the top of your head while brushing your teeth or taking a shower? Do you try to then steer the conversation elsewhere, or just let them go on, while thinking to yourself "Why did I say I'd show up at this event?"
And have you ever got so bored that you actually left such an event? Did you end up doing something fun afterwards, or just lay exhausted on your hotel bed thinking of the fact that you actually weren't in the Caribbean even though you're supposed to be able to go there any time you wished?
Will in Seattle
1. Have you considered using Open Source for future games, or at least character generation parameter objects? If so, would they allow for characters to develop Open Sores, a mildly contagious disease affecting only geekdom, and would this cause them to be unwelcome at very cool parties?
2. Have you ever been to Burning Man? If not, is it because some of the attendees don't bathe for a week or just that they're too wierd?
3. Have you ever visited a href="http://www.fthe Center of the Universe? And what part of it did you like the best - the Troll under the bridge, Trolloween, the functional rocket ship, or the abundance of coffee shops? Was it while on a book speaking tour of Seattle, as you felt magically pulled towards the Fremont neighborhood, or just one of those wierd traffic accidents involving cell phones, urban hippies, and a significant lack of turbans?
4. What drives you to write? And does this involve the wearing of turbans or drinking tea or coffee? Do you do this in public? Do you prefer to use pen and paper, pencil and paper, a desktop PC, or a laptop PC. Do you randomly write ideas down, outline the story, or just write off the top of your head and then edit? While editing, do you use friends or editors to check to see if your writing is too verbose or otherwise in need of retuning, especially in regards to the funny bits? Do you find it easier to write humour while depressed or when you're slightly uncomfortable and do you ever write on a plane, at an airport, or while sitting on a beach in the Caribbean?
Will in Seattle
Do you find the Internet to be a distraction similar to TV, more like written correspondance, or like attending a really bad party that you're not quite sure you were invited to?
And, does this make you wish for the existance of Net Editors, or does the idea of someone editing the Net give you the willies?
Will in Seattle
Why did you pick 42 for the answer to everything?
Show your work for extra credit.
George
This has been bugging me forever: "`Why are people born?' `Why do they die?' `Why do they spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?'" I've always wondered if Douglas Adams wears a digital watch...
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -Douglas Adams, THHGTTG
I have to say that after reading the Hitchhiker's books, I was a little underimpressed by the movie. Was everything in it subject to your approval, or were the costumes "artist's interpretations" of what you described in the books? The reason I ask is... um... Zaphod. :) I got a totally different picture from readin the book.
Are there any plans to redo the movie someday with better effects and costumes? T'would be nice to have it take more into account too. Like the real end.
I've already seen HTML transcripts of the entire trilogy. (The three-volume trilogy, not the five-volume trilogy. :-) I already owned all the books and have read them enough to recall whole scenes, so no, I didn't bookmark the site and thus have no URL to give you for proof.
/. will drop him into whatever predefined slots they've already defined for famous people.
I'm worried that only the first few words of DMA's answer to this question will be read, at which point
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
I've noticed that in real life, a terrible, wealthy, and meglomaniacal nerd makes life miserable for everyone who has to use computers.
So, my question is, was the terrible nerd based on this real life person, or did God base Bill Gates on the game Bureaucracy?
If the latter is the case, do you intend to sue God for copyright infringement and what sort of sum of money would you be asking for?
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
The cake is a pie
Interesting - I too had the crap scared out of me by Doctor Who at an early age (much younger than eight or nine, though). For me it was the Daleks; apparently I'd dive behind the couch every time they threatened the Doctor's extermination. I also had the crap rescared out of me later on by riding in the coin-operated talking Dalek at the Bull Run in Birmingham or London ('cause I was a big boy and wouldn't be scared, promise).
I think the real reason DNA required convincing to allow the release of Shada was that it's just not a very good episode. The incompleteness doesn't help either; it's almost comical to see Tom Baker come out between scenes and say "I managed to escape, but then..."
-- Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. ~ Robert Doisneau
I've read before that this was indeed the reason for the events in Mostly Harmless - DNA was sick of it all and just wanted to get on with other things. If this question is posed him, I'd be interested to know whether he now regrets having written it in that way and from that frame of mind, or whether it did exactly what it was intended to and he remains glad of it.
-- Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. ~ Robert Doisneau
Throughout the HHG series, you've put forth several reasons to blow up the earth:
- Hyperspace bypass
- To keep shrinks in business
- A restaraunt?
- Something involving the Kricket?
- To make it "perfectly safe" (Young Zaphod Plays It Safe)
- Something about Mostly Harmless's new guide?
Is this just the result of me reading it a few too many times, or am I onto something here? What WERE your original ideas to blow up the earth over?Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
The ending to Mostly Harmless seems to be an effort to tie up the ends and say unambigiously "all done, stop bugging me to write more books about this."
So, when are we going to find out what ever became of Fenchurch?
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
still 42?
I am quite civilized, and I should be brought a beer immediately. -- Bruce Sterling
I hope DNA will comment upon his thoughts when writing Mostly Harmless.
www.eFax.com are spammers
About half of the posts, and especially this one have too many qualities of the pathetic fanboy. This reminds me of that Simpsons episode when Homer becomes the voice for Poochy and all the local nerds bring out questions like the above. Go back to writing inspirational slogans and posters, thanks.
Strawberry, lime, grape, blueberry, tangerine or the new and ultra sexy graphite?
.sig: Now legally binding!
no, six times nine equals 42! The exact quote is "what do you get when you multiply six by nine?" And the answer was drawn out of a scrabble bag on Earth with all of the hairdressers and marketing people.
The "we apolologize for the inconvenience" was G-d's final message to creation.
btw, in binary:
6 = 0110
9 = 1001
42= 010101
weird, huh?
nuclear cia fbi spy password code encrypt president bomb
Friends don't let friends misuse the subjunctive.
Where have you been travelling lately?
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
The 1981 mini-series version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is only available on VHS. Are there any plans for a DVD version?
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Your novels are generally wide ranging in settings and background enviroments, but you are almost universally known as the author of THHGTTG.
Have you found that you are typecast as a writer, since you are best known for the Hitchhiker trilogy, or do you think people (publishers) will read(publish) what you produce regardless of its subject matter?
Computers can only simulate determinism. ~Hermetic.
2) What's your favorite beer? I'm really surprised someone hasn't asked this earlier...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
(1) I'm curious about your apparent fetish for Norway. There was the old dude receiving a prize for his work on the Fjords, a recurring theme in the Trilogy, and then the whole Thor/Odin/Valhalla thing in Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Mere coincidence, simple interest, or full-on fetish?
(2) Close to the end of the Hitchhiker's Guide, you introduce an elevator which, when its hurried occupants pushed a button to go up, stayed put and intead expanded on the virtues of going sideways. As Microsoft came much later, from what experience did the idea of stubborn technology come?
---------
Once in a while you get shown the light,
---------
Once in a while you get shown the light,
In the strangest of places, when you look at it right -
It's really 42, right? You weren't just pulling our legs about that? Some of us have a lot of time and effort invested into that little number, it'd be a shame if the man with the secrets of the universe was just messing with our heads.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Are there any other software-related projects you're working on? With the attention being paid to alternate web browsers (Mozilla, Netomat), it seems like this is an area which would benefit from your witty perspective. Since Netomat actuallly has random links spinning off on their own tangents, I can only imagine how a "Meaning of Liff" or Holistic-themed interface can add to the internet experience =)
I'm also curious of how you feel about 3D perspective games. Having done Starship Titanic, it would seem a more immersive experience (as in navigating stairways, running & jumping from a first-person perspective) would be ripe material for satire.
Or to ask the question more directly:
How much of yourself (at the time) was characterized in Arthur Dents character and his lack of control over the world he lived in.
If the above is even partially correct, is your life (and characters) more in control or less?
BTW: HHGttG was one of the funniest and most thought provoking pices of lit I've ever read. Cheers for putting that down on paper!
no sig.
Mr Adams,
You've been a commentator on the usefulness and usability of technology for a while now. What would you say is the worldwide most widely used, useless gizmo?
Hello Douglas, Great stuff, most people here haven't read the Dirk Gently book yet. Will you write a guide on holistic system administration in the future? This would, with your writing skills and the average system admin turn into a lot of fun at work.
In "Last Chance to see", you described the plight of the Kakapo, a dodo-like bird that had evolved on a set of islands with no natural predators.
The bird had developped an insanely complicated reproductive cycle in order to keep it population from outgrowing the island. Further, the bird wasn't incredibly bright, and it couldn't fly. In short, evolution on a small island with no competition had done a number on this bird.
Since I read this, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that Earth is just a bigger island, and that Humans are entering a "kakapo" stage. We recognize that our population is growing exponentially, we recognize that this growth is causing a whole slew of problems, and we have begun to react to this using such things as contraceptives, abortions, and population laws.
If these measures succeed, human population growth will be slowed or ultimately even stopped - There are many people campaigning for ZPG-Zero Population Growth. Might such a trend, if it succeeds, have negative effects on humanity in the long run? Do you think abortion and forced population control have caused a lowering of the value of human life?
Judge Pag, the Learned, Impartial, and Very Relaxed
When I first read about h2g2, I did a little happy dance. Finally the Guide would become reality! Then I actually went to the site.
It seems to me that H2G2 is less a place for information and commentary, and more a very complicated chat site. What happened?
What direction do you see The Guide taking online?
Judge Pag, the Learned, Impartial, and Very Relaxed
Have you ever owned, ridden in, or driven an honest-to-god Ford Prefect?
In the HHGTTG what would the entries be for:
1) Linux
2) Apple
3) Microsoft
4) Free Software
Would Apple now be rated as mostly harmless ?
Would Microsoft marketing be comparable to Vogon poetry ?
How would you descibe the Linux penguin fixation ?
How would explain the concept of free software to a Vogon ?
Mr. Adams,
The Hitchhikers' Guide series started out as a radio drama, but the books expanded the story well past the original series. I'm a really big fan of ZBS radio drama, and I was wondering if you've ever considered having your more recent works produced for radio or as CDs?
Books on tape are great, but there's nothing quite like having a full cast of actors, proper sound effects, and a great soundtrack to bring it to life.
The Digital Sorceress
Mr. Adams,considering that HHGTTG and LDTTOTS can be a bit out there(an understatement!)at times,is there any time that you considered yourself crazy for doing the radio show/writing the books/etc.?
----------------
Etot "sig" byit pisyat v Russki!
(35.0% Slashdot nezdorovi.)
------------------------
Thus Spake ComradePenguin
Do you keep up to date with how the animals encountered in "Last chance to see" are faring and could there possibly be another book and/or tv series along these lines in the near future?
What is your main source of inspiration? If you had to pick just one, that is. Specifically when you were writing Hitchhicker... was it music, an activity, or a mindless computer game?
Never fear... Smith is here!
Hello!
I'll be try to be brief, as this will probably generate a lot of noise.
Knowing that you could patent several of the ideas in your books (if you haven't already), and seeing the way that patents have already begun to shape our environment, I wonder what your thoughts are concerning the US Patent Office. Specifically with the way that internet patents have been distributed. A prime example would be Amazon.com's "1-Click". Do you plan on applying for patents for your work? Do you think that the patent office is headed in a good or bad direction?
Thanks for your time!
=)
I know that you describe yourself as an "radical Atheist". I don't want to question why you are an atheist, but why are you so aggressive about it? Sounds like "I am sad at god because he does not exist" or do I completely misunderstand the term?
When Windows 95 was released (unleashed?) upon this planet, you had an article that was passed around about how much of a non-innovation Windows 95 really was, and how the Macintosh was a superior and more consistent platform. Do you still find your comments to ring true five years later, now that someone went off and tossed year numbers after Windows NT? Also, any thoughts on the new line-up of Macintosh machines (iMac, G3/G4)? Have you tried any alternative operating systems, such as Be or Linux?
Did you enjoy writing for Monty Python? Had you established your peculiar insanity by then, or was that the catalyst?
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
I've always interupted interviews with you feeling that you wanted to stop answering questions and being pestered about the Hitchhiker series. (Which I love greatly, to the extent that I wear a rabbit bone in my beard while camping)
When "Mostly Harmless" was released, I was surprised, but the ending seemed to me, very, very, final.
Was that book written just to end the series, and therefore end questions about it?
If so, did it work?
Shaun Nelson - Bastard Operator (From Hell / For Hire)
having had most of these questions already answered either in the alt.fan.douglas-adams faq, h2g2.com, or in personal correspondence (many moons and many campfires ago, DNA was kind enough to actually correspond with the, then few people that were both fans and Internet-connected. these days, it's nigh impossible for him to reply to _all_ of his fans' emails...) i was wondering..
what is the current status of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy motion picture? is the screenplay still being written/rewritten? is hollywood pictures/disney still involved? is there any chance i could see a hhgg movie in my lifetime?
- Entertaining Bits from the Ancient Kernel Tree
It seems that you just tossed out the most outrageous things you could think of, and are amused that people read more into it than is there. But, can you cite any philosophical influences of your work? Zen? Nietsche?
While reading some form of Monty Python autobiography, I noticed it contained several references to you. How do you think you influenced or were influenced by the Monty Python cast and crew. Overall what was your relationship with them?
Wow, Douglas Adams! My faith in /. has been restored.
In one or more of your HGttG books, you mention that if humanity ever completely understood our universe, it would instantly be replaced with something much stranger. (Sorry, I'm too excited to find the exact passage right now.) Shortly after I first read that, I heard about a real theory of physics that is strikingly similar... In order to directly study the origins of our universe, we'd need to build a particle accelerator large enough to generate a certain magic number of units of energy -- but it just so happens that putting that much energy in one place would trigger a "phase transition", literally replacing our current universe with a new one. (Again, I haven't done my homework -- local physicists, feel free to correct me.)
Did you know about this theory when you dropped that line into your books, or is the similarity just a bizarre coincidence?
MSK
To Douglas Adams, then: Your vision of Starship Titanic in 1996 differed quite a lot from what it really was. This is, of course, natural. What sorts of things influenced those changes; were any really significant or even worth mention?
More importantly, you seem to have a unique view of where computer gaming should go. What is that view, specifically?
Second question (feel free to ignore): Where is that new book and the 3d IMax movies?
have fun dongoodman
You've worked in a lot of different segments of the information 'industry'. You've written code, & maintained web databases, you've created the story for computer games, you've written novels, radio shows, tv programs (programmes?). Most of those activities have been done in at least a semi-commercial setting. Around here in particular, I hear people trying generalize principles of information ownership across these domains. Do you feel that these various kinds of information are alike enough that they all should or can be treated similarly, in terms of ownership? How different have you seen the concerns of the publishers of these various media you've worked in to be?
I realize you're not a lawyer, but that's part of the reason I'm asking you this (there's also always the off chance you might say something funny in reply).
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
Is "Mostly Harmless" the end of the series? If so, it's a rather ambiguous ending (which, I suppose, does make pefect sense). Will there be another book to tie up all the loose ends left over?
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
Your work has 'product of drug culture' written all over it. I've always seen it as a Silver Surfer comic created solely while high and giggling. Is drug use a part of your creative process or lifestyle like say, George Carlin does or used to do?
Of all of the characters you have created and gotten to know in your works, which is your favorite?
(my favorite is Dirk Gently)
Does the recent news concerning physicists realization of a more exact gravitational constant necessitate a recalculation of the meaning of life? Perhaps 42.1?
-----
I heard a several years ago that you had a x-mas book that was pulled because the Church or England threatened to sue the publisher for blasphemy. Apparently there is still a law on the books that allows for that. Is this true?
What is according to you, the silliest thing that happens in the entire HHGTTG series?
Do You see Irony and Sarcasm as being synonomous with humor, and a necessary way for society to let off steam?
Perhaps not as well known as the HGttG are your contributions to the Doctor Who universe. Besides writing "The Pirate Plant", "Shada", and co-writing "City of Death" (with Graham Williams), you were also script editor for season seventeen.
What were your reasons for stepping down as script editor after only one season? Was it limited to your growing involvement in HGttG, or to the production problems that plagued that season?
Would you consider making any more additions to Doctor Who, through a novel or radio drama?
Thanks.
The way you (and others) portray the way you work, I get the impression you find it very hard to finish a writing job unless you're actually looking starvation in the face if you don't deliver tomorrow. You've described some innovative and elaborate forms of procrastination, and you certainly don't produce new work at the same rate as you did when H^2G^2 was first being written. Do you see it as a problem? Or are you finding procrastination easier to overcome?
cheers!
--
Xenu loves you!
Before Starship Titanic came out, there was talk of doing a CD-ROM based game consisting only of sound clips (no graphics, just radio). I see no mention of it on your site.
I hope this project is still in the pipeline -- it sounded very interesting. Is your first love still radio, or were you just looking for something unique (like Bureaucracy, perhaps)?
--
how to invest, a novice's guide
--
Here's my mirror
For instance, the original BBC recordings of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy have made frequent appearances on various pirate music sites, and they show up frequently in searches on Napster. What are your feelings on this sort of thing? Also, although I'm not aware of it happening currently, how do you think you might react to discovering that some of your various novels were being traded online?
Finally, many of us feel that the issue revolves around one of availability - for instance, if I knew that I could purchase digital recordings of the original HGTTG broadcast over the internet, I would be happy to do so, but as far as I am aware, such a distribution scheme is not currently available. Do you think that this is merely a cut-and-dry issue of intellectual property theft, or do you feel that issues such as these point out that maybe it is time for the publishing industries of these various forms of media need to redefine the way they do business?
Thanks again for your time.
Your Brain + EEG + LEGO Robots = Brainstorms
A couple of years ago, I discovered in a history book a mention of a book. It was published in twenty-five editions through the 17th century, and was titled:
"A plaine man's patheway to Heaven"
and was by none other than Arthur Dent.
Is this:
(a) somehow connected to the origins of the title & character naming of the Guide, or:
(b) a very good excuse for you to write a little sarcastic snippet on the nature of coincidence? :-)
Regards,
Martin Ling
The Hitch Hiker's Guide is probably the most well-known, if not the only known radio drama to gen-Xrs in the US. Do you think that given the vast array of media available today the Radio Drama as an art form is dead? Or do you think it can survive as Internet based streaming audio because the audience can listen to it at a time and place that is convenient to them, and there is a revenue model that works for US listeners?
As a possible follow-up, H2G2 has been produced as radio, television, book and (soon) film. In your opinion which media is it best suited to (financial considerations aside), and having been involved with all these productions, which would you have chosen to produce it as first if you had the opportunity to start at the beginning (again, financial considerations aside)?
Work for Change & GET PAID!
First, I want to say that you are my favorite author - it's a rare privelege just to say "hey". My favorite book is Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, though I've read every one of your other books as well.
:-)
I'm not going to ask a question about the content of your books, because I believe those questions are well covered just by reading them. What I am curious about is your opinion of other people interpreting your work into other media, and your future plans.
What was your honest opinion of the Hitchhiker's Guide movie that floats around on PBS? Why the hell was Trillian a blonde? And why did Zaphod have one floppy head that never said anything? Are there any plans to do another movie from any of your books, maybe with a better special FX budget?
Also, what do you have on the burner recently? Are there any more books on the way, or another attempt at a computer game?
Oh, and don't forget your towel.
--- "So THAT's what an invisible barrier looks like!" - Time Bandits
Mr. Adams,
I know that "creating content" (buzz word alert) is your livelihood, but how would you feel about "opening" that content at some point?
Do you think, at some point, you may "retire" and make a "gift" of your work to your fans? This becomes more meaningful as books become more of a digital medium. I would love to hand a disc with all of your books on it to a friend.
What I would like to know most of all, is how do you react to this question. Does it seem like a ridiculous question? Does it immediately strike you as something you would not even consider? Is it something you had already considered?
Did you consider piracy when the digital version (I can't remember the name of that computer book doohickey that it was on.) of the Hitchhikers Guide was released? Did the manufacturer convince you that it would not be prevalent, or did you not care?
Is there anything that convinces you that you are outside outside the asylum more than Slashdot?
-Peter
Slashdot cries out for open standards, then breaks them.
You've proven to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a person can only fly (under their own power), if just at the moment when they make the attempt, they are immediately and completely distracted by something totally unrelated to the attempt.
Is this a metaphor? Do you believe that we can only reach our truly lofty goals, by not actually paying any attention to them? Or, must we simply be distracted from our goals long enough that reach them without trying to?
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
Mr.Adams as someone who writes books(develops content) what view do you have on napster. It has been argued that commercialism is infringing on the freedom of ideas and that people distributing music for free on the net will force the record compaines to sell their products in a more consumer friendly(some would say cheaper)fashion. How would you feel abouting writing a book and only being paid for it if readers felt the need to?
Frode
z
I have no
It is somewhat amazing to me that many things in your books became internet household words. Did you have any idea when you were writing your books that you would be setting the naming standard used by millions of people?
In the past, you've been a very vocal advocate for Apple products, in particular the Mac. What are your thoughts concerning some of Apple's controversial decisions, such as killing production of the Newton, or where Apple is headed?
Hi Douglas,
I actually asked this question of you in 1998 and again in 1999 and your response was that you are waiting for a better development of the technology.
What do you think about the current development of eBooks? Have you had a chance to look at the eBook XML standard?
When can we hope to see an eBook-like version of the H2G2 as described in the story? (ie not an eBook version of the story H2G2 that you wrote but one similar to what Ford Prefect carries that contains an entire library of known knowledge...)
Obviously something like this would take up terrabytes of information but with storage capacities being what they are, perhaps you can start with a guide to various countries and work from there.
----
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
In the HHGTtG series, you deal with a culture accustomed to instantaneous access to hip information -and- time-travel. It seemed to spiral in on itself, with time being as inconsequential a barrier to getting the best possible parties that geography is in the age of highways and jets.
In the contested twilight of the 20th century, we can go out on any given weekend, and find people dressed up in zoot-suits swing dancing, decked out in bell-bottoms at a disco, and rushing about outdoors attired in the shining armor of medevil knights, whacking each other with sticks.
Has the internet and recursive nostalgia brought us to a point where modern culture is every inch as silly and fractal as the one you created?
Also: I have the phrase "Don't Panic!" marching cheerily across my web-access cell phone's display when not in use. Did you expect to see the technology you envisioned with "The Guide" come to pass in your lifetime? Are you terrified someone might come up with an infinite improbability drive sometime before dinner?
SoupIsGood Food
I'm wondering what happened to the next Dirk Gently book, Salmon of Doubt which was expected over a year ago. And what, besides the web site (which I'm sure is a lot of work) are you up to these days. Finally, what else can we hope to see from you in the future?
----------------- "I have a bone to pick, and a few to break." - Refused -------------------
But my question is: are there any music composition software packages/languages/environments that you find interesting? Anything that Richard MacDuff would find fascinating?
Tweet, tweet.
Infocom's HG2TG Bablefish puzzle is considered one of the greatest puzzles of all time. Beuacracy is considered one of the hardest, but fair, games ever. With the new resurgance of text adventures/interactive fiction in the last couple of years, and the idea that games like Zork will actually have longer life spans, with the coming of handheld wireless devices and the like, than graphical games (books are timeless, I guess a good parser on an IF is as well) have you ever considered reentering the text adventure market?
links
interactfiction.about.com
ifarchive.org
ifiction.tsx.org
when Push Comes to Shove
First, a big thank-you. You've made a lasting contribution to "our" culture (or should that be "culture"?)
I first read HGttG in my early teens. I doubled over laughing the whole time. I read and reread the entire series, bought both Dirk Gently books AND Last Chance to See. Loved them all and wouldn't trade having read them for anything. (btw, the first mental ward scene in Long Dark Teatime is a no-foolin', all-time classic.)
However, a few years ago I was talking to a (then) classmate. Very smart, philosophy-major type. He said (paraphrased) "I thought that HGttG was depressing. Such nihilism." At the time I thought "Hmmm...I didn't SEE a black beret on his head....". But every reading of the series since then his comment has struck me as more true--especially in the case of Arthur Dent. In fact, far from being funny, I now find Dent's character depressing--he's not just a loser, he literally has no control over his life at all (except in So Long for a while). And the control he does have does him no good (e.g. Earth is destroyed while he's trying to save his house.)
So my question is: When you were writing these books did you feel you were being gaily whimsical or did you instead feel frustrated and cynical?
--
Have Exchange users? Want to run Linux? Can't afford OpenMail?
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
..about predicting the Internet?
My mental image of the the Guide (outside of the Don't Panic sticker) was a laptop computer with high speed access. The big hint was when you said (paraphrased) "The Guide contains vaste amount of information on every concievable concept, much of it completely erroneous or actively dangerous." That's about the best description of the Net I've seen, and it came about before the thing was mainstream. I guess my question is, Have you ever thought of it that way? Do you like turkey? And what's the deal with Smithers?
--
+&x
How much was Lewis Carroll's work an inspiration for your own? Clearly he must have had some influence, regarding the number 42's significance in both his and your works. (Hunting of the Snark: helmsman rule #42; Alice in Wonderland: rule #42 that all persons more than a mile tall must leave the court; etc.) And one needn't go so far as to call both bodies of work "semi-incoherent" to find similarities in style and typical audience.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
A few years ago I read an interview wherein you said that you weren't happy with the way the fifth book turned out and were considering that you might go on to write a sixth book. First, was that interview accurate, and second if it is accurate are you still considering writing a new book for the series?
Now that it's been many years - to the extent you feel free to discuss it, whatever happened between yourself and Infocom way-back-when? Aspiring historians wanna know.
Q2: After what seemed an eternity, it was really neat to see you back on the scene with Starship Titanic. Although I enjoyed ST, I also had the feeling it was also a technology demonstration; here's a basic engine which will allow a few puzzles and the integration of video sequences with some sort of character interaction. The ability to parse text was still there; not quite as much as it was in the Infocom engine, but definitely a lot of potential. Soooooo...
The reason I ask is because, for me, this was the only thing I found lacking (or more accurately, "expected to find more of") in Starship Titanic -- so much of the humor your work series is literary and textual in nature, hence my burning desire for more textual puzzles. The writing behind the ST characters was great; I just wanted to experience more of it from the user's end. For me, that meant being able to type commands to the game, rather than mousing around the screen. And some things seem to be better represented by text than visuals; the Babel Fish puzzle in the original HHGTTG game, for instance, wouldn't have been nearly as funny if rendered only visually - the humor of the puzzle was powerfully enhanced by the writing associated with each failed attempt to get the fish. (Umm, but thanks for at least saving me the trouble of putting the fish in my ear myself!)
And finally...
As an inveterate hater of Wednesdays (middle of the week, its three days since you last had fun and 3 more before you have some more, Wednesday should be a holiday) I've always wondered.
Why did you pick Thursday as the day for that Arthur Dent never got the hang of ?
Oh and if I do get to ask a question I'd better ask another....
There was a Radio Series, a TV series, the books... but no film. What stopped Zaphod becomming the most self-centred person in Hollywood ?
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
One author who is often compared to you in terms of style and humor is Terry Pratchett of Discworld fame. What is your opinion of Pratchett's work? Do you agree or disagree with the comparisons between your works?
Did you write Mostly Harmless because of pressure from your fans, publisher, or accountant? Having read the full series more often than I would like to mention, it seemed to me that there was a lot of bitterness in the last book. Most characters were unhappy most of the time (not just the humans with digital watches), and you brought out the worst parts of these characters.
Also, killing off the main characters seems like the act of an author who is sick of it all, and never wants to think about that part of his work again. It reminds me of a story I once heard about Stan Rogers. He was a folk musician who wrote mostly about Maritime Canada (my neck of the woods). His most famous song was called Barrett's Privateers. It is said people wanted to hear that song so much that he started to hate it, and didn't want to sing it anymore.
Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good book, but not nearly as innocent as the rest.
------- Mark
What was your initial inspiration for writing the Hitchiker's guide books? Did you realize at the time that most readers just didn't "get it"? Personally, at the time I first read them they seemed *so* distant from reality, but as I get older (33 now), each rereading gets funnier and funnier. I must be getting more of the jokes now.
Finally, did you ever imagine that your books could ever have developed a cult-like following?
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
Did you endorse the use of "Babelfish" by altavista or did you consider trying to prevent them from using the word as they are far from proving that god does not exist?
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
I need to know.
I'm thirsty. And sober.
[|]
I believe Mr. Adams wrote a few Doctor Who stories, notably "Shada," "Resurrection of the Daleks," and "Revelation of the Daleks." As yet, "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Revelation of the Daleks" have not been released on video or in book form due to copyright issues.
With Doctor Who, the story writers retained the copyrights to their own work. Obviously, he doesn't have the copyright on the Daleks themselves (Terry Nation's estate does), but he does on the stories. I remember hearing that he required a lot of convincing to allow "Shada" to be released on video (which ended up being limited-edition, anyway).
What I want to know is, what's the problem with releasing "Resurrection" and "Revelation"? Is it some kind of dispute with Terry Nation's estate due to the use of the Daleks, or is he just being, well...stubborn? (Sorry, I couldn't think of a more polite word.)
One other issue (if this post is actually selected (probably not), please omit the following):
Also, am I the only one who's a little pissed that the NTSC videocassette version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was recorded in EP mode? Excuse me, commercial videos are not supposed to be done in EP!! There was a version on two cassettes in SP mode with a copy of the book, too, but it was (once again) limited-edition.
Also, I've noticed that the book version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that you buy in stores has been split into four parts and called a "triology of four." Ha ha ha, very clever. Those four books are quite thin; couldn't Mr. Adams (or his publisher) have saved us some money by combining them into one, thicker book, like in the limited-edition, SP-mode, NTSC video release? (Sorry if that sounded a little bitter; I just thought splitting up the book into small parts was kind of dumb...)
So just where did the dolphins end up after they left?
Dear Mr. Adams.
While the Hitchhikers' Guide trilogy is very good (I own a copy of the omnibus), I couldn't help but notice that it has 5 (five) parts. For this reason, I enjoy the Dirk Gently books greatly. My question is this:
What is your favourite type of cheese for cucumber, tomato and onion sanwiches on a nice French bread?
Thank you for your time.
Zac
You can never put too much water in a nuclear reactor.
Forget the BBC movie, I want to know about the other movie that is supposedly going to begin filming any day now. Of course, that has been the rumor for the past... decade is it? What gives? I seem to recall reading an interview elsewhere where you said another movie would be filmed besides the BBC that would (naturally) have nothing to do with any of the preceding four (and in a later interview, after Mostly Harmless five) books. Were those interviews ficticious and you never said that, or will there someday be a real, live, Hollywood version of Hitchhiker?
---
"Duane Dibbley?" -- Duane Dibbley