
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” turns 42 - pama
https://www.economist.com/prospero/2020/03/06/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-turns-42
======
Angostura
And for those of you who would like to hear the original Radio Series again,
it's being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra right now:
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g55m](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g55m)

I wonder if they will have the original Pink Floyd music when they land on
Magrathea, or whether it will be edited out, as it was in the BBC recordings
due to rights issues.

~~~
rjsw
I think I still have casette tapes of the original run.

~~~
Finnucane
Heh, when it was first broadcast here, I taped it off the radio, but I think
my tapes are long gone.

~~~
kwhitefoot
You can download the episodes with [https://github.com/get-
iplayer/get_iplayer](https://github.com/get-iplayer/get_iplayer)

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frankling_
I recently reread Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan" and was really surprised to
notice to what degree Adams drew inspiration from that book. He did
acknowledge it as an influence [1], but some ideas my naive self had
attributed to Adams are closer to well-done rearrangements/retellings of
elements from Sirens of Titan (which certainly wasn't written in a vacuum
either) in a different comedic voice. Both works are fantastic, though.

[1]
[http://www.darkermatter.com/issue1/douglas_adams.php](http://www.darkermatter.com/issue1/douglas_adams.php)

~~~
samplatt
I read Sirens for the first time just recently, and I'm now frustrated with
myself for not spotting the similarities... but then it's been nearly two
decades since I last read H2G2...

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WillFlux
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the
Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be
replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another
theory which states that this has already happened.”

~~~
noobly
While I’ve never heard this before, I did have a rather unfortunate
chemically-induced experience that viscerally explored this idea in more
detail.. :-)

~~~
dylan604
If you've never heard this before, you NEED to read it.

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dijksterhuis
> The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a
> lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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dboreham
We need those telephone sanitizers now.

~~~
Mountain_Skies
In modern culture, they'd be touchscreen kiosk sanitizers.

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radicalbyte
It's quite fitting that we have Zaphod Beeblebrox clones in both Nr 10 and the
White House.

~~~
mattkevan
I do hope the true ruler of things turns out to be an old bloke in a hut with
no interest in anything beyond a vague affection for his (possibly imaginary)
cat.

Otherwise we’re really in trouble.

~~~
foobar1962
> an old bloke in a hut

Wasn't he OUTSIDE the hut?

~~~
hcs
Perhaps you're thinking of Wonko the Sane, who lived Outside of the Asylum.

~~~
foobar1962
Yes indeed. Thanks.

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76543210
I think the book was written to teach us the importance/uses of towels and
bags.

We just take it for granted.

~~~
b06tmm
This.

I was going to reply to the anti-christian attitudes but decided I like your
surmise better.

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pachico
As anecdote, my girlfriend teaches philosophy and has used fragments of this
book more than once. I personally find it to be a modern Alice in Wonderland,
don't you think?

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lwb
> Douglas Adams’s masterwork is blithely comic in tone but deeply serious in
> purpose.

I thought it was just a funny book. What is its "deeply serious purpose"?

~~~
TimTheTinker
Perhaps to call the Christian worldview into question using sarcasm and
sardonic humor.

~~~
76543210
What particular bits?

~~~
yarrel
Any of the very clealy labelled bits about religion.

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kristianp
My first exposure to "Hitchhiker's" was probably the t.v. series. I loved the
almost monochrome green graphics and text of the sections covering the Guide's
topics, such as [1], which compared Encyclopedia Galactica's entries to the
guide's. The narration of Kurzgesagt science videos reminds me fondly of the
hg2g [3].

I also loved the bits about people who'll be "the first against the wall when
the revolution comes".[2]

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvtPglw5ftk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvtPglw5ftk)
[2]
[https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Sirius_Cybernetics_Corpo...](https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Sirius_Cybernetics_Corporation)
[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/user/Kurzgesagt/](https://www.youtube.com/user/Kurzgesagt/)

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ultrablack
"The sound of several thousand people saying "whoop" at once":

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzivgKuhNl4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzivgKuhNl4)

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pierremenard
Incredible how many people and things were inspired by H2G2, including
Radiohead: [https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ev4ga7/thom-yorke-
confirm...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ev4ga7/thom-yorke-confirms-ok-
computer-is-nerdy-as-shit)

~~~
dwd
Naming a song Paranoid Android (my personal all-time favourite) was pretty
obvious, though it is not about Marvin. I do dispute his opening statement -
Ok Computer was their best album and one of very few albums that you can just
leave on repeat without skipping tracks.

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neonate
[https://archive.md/m1Pnl](https://archive.md/m1Pnl)

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AJCxZ0
TV Series available on Amazon Prime at
[https://smile.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07CGTY13F](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07CGTY13F)

Radio series CD box set available in my car's changer, currently on disc three
of the Tertiary Phase.

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cagenut
man if only he knew what digital watches turned into

~~~
dboreham
"The Book" surely?

~~~
spongeb00b
I would love to know what Douglas would think of the modern smartphone.

I’ve also always wanted to laser engrave “DON’T PANIC” in large friendly
letters on the back of my phone

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alblue
The BBC are re-releasing the episodes as from tonight:

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g55m/episodes/guide](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000g55m/episodes/guide)

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mooze
Back in 2004 I had the H2G2 website (h2g2.com) bookmarked on my Nokia 3100 and
would read it whenever I was waiting for the bus (this was before Google
Reader). A cheeky, entertaining precursor to Wikipedia.

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yarrel
Both the first book and the start of the second series are among the very
funniest things I have ever encountered. They have a density of invention that
is truly joyous to follow.

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robomartin
Well, that is going to explain so much about 2020. It’s like the planets
aligning. I fully expect Vulcans to make contact with humanity this year. Or
Klingons.

~~~
vidarh
As long as it isn't Vogons

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simonebrunozzi
Obligatory mention for every fan of Douglas Adams: "Parrots, the Universe, and
everything". [0]

Watch the whole thing. You will thank me later.

[0]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZG8HBuDjgc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZG8HBuDjgc)

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tomerbd
Galaxy S42

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tapper
I love these books, but why post a pece that is paywalled?

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thombat
It isn't for me, in Continental Europe. Where are you?

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stuartd
UK reader here. “Continue reading this article

Register with an email address”..

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kwhitefoot
Same here in Norway.

