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Showing posts from August, 2013

What "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is really about

I was on holiday recently lying on a meadow somewhere near Furka pass in Switzerland. It was the middle of the night and the sky was cloudless. Far from any civilization I could see the night sky in all its glory - with all the tiny stars and the clear shape of the Milky Way. Truly stunning view! Coincidentally I was also reading Douglas Adams "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". It's brilliant! Funny and smart. It struck me what it really is about. Let me give you a hint by quoting a paragraph: "Han Wavel is a world which consists largely of fabulous ultra-luxury hotels and casinos, all of which have been formed by the natural erosion of wind and rain. The chances of this happening are more or less one to infinity against. Little is known of how this came about because none of the geophysicists, probability statisticians, meteoranalysts or bizzarrologists who are so keen to research it can afford to stay there." Yes! It is basically saying that bec