The Ultimate Question of the Life, The Universe, and Everything.

#hitchhikersguidetothegalaxy #fortytwo #existentialism
It's absurd on purpose. It's deep by accident.
This video was made as part of the essay collaboration, "These Video Essays Do Not Exist." The topic: lost media, fake media, fan theories, superstitions, speculation, etc. :)
You can view the entire collaboration here: • These Video Essays Do ...
If you want to know more about how wildcard characters work in computer programming / querying, this Microsoft support article is a chill primer:
support.micros...
Thank you ‪@kikikrazed‬ for making all the fancy & nice looking parts of the video (lol), and thank you ‪@JamesWoodall‬ for playing a wonderful Douglas Adams :D
Like my work? Consider supporting me on Patreon, or Ko-Fi for one-time donations! $1 on Patreon/Ko-Fi is more than I make from a lifetime viewer on KZbin, so I appreciate y'all a ton for supporting my future work! 💚💙❤️🧡
Patrons get access to our Discord server, early access to video rough cuts, and bonus videos, including my 1-hour dunk-fest on Fate: The Winx Saga :')
Patreon - / samkern
Ko-Fi - ko-fi.com/afte...
Second Channel (laid back vids) - / @afterwords_
Twitter - / afterthaughts
CORRECTIONS TO THE VIDEO:
Via ‪@Agnes.Nutter‬ :
"FYI, alt.fan.douglas-adams is a Usenet newsgroup (you can tell from the distinctive naming style). Usenet content prior to 2/22/2024 is mirrored on Google Groups, which is good as it makes it much more accessible and discoverable, but it has content dating back well before Google existed! :) In this case, the Douglas Adams newsgroup was founded in November 1991."
Via ‪@MontegomeryLoL‬ :
"It's not that they forgot what the ultimate question was, the assignment was always "Give us the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything", they just didn't realize they never actually defined the question.
Which, for anyone working in a corporate environment, really is par for the course."

[@Afterthoughts]

Oh, here's a thing I should say: "it's deep by accident" is not a dig :) Hitchhiker's Guide IS deep! The point could be made that it's a special brand of "deep" to face our existential questions with a smile and a joke. What I express here is my joy in the human tendency to find meaning *everywhere* we look, even when we're expressly told "this is not meant to go that far, this was a coincidence." Because meaning DOES exist everywhere! The smallest moments can inspire revelation and we should take joy in that fact of our incredible, coincidental universe :P we should take joy in the fact that when we look, we find! And on, and forever!

[@MontegomeryLoL]

It's not that they forgot what the ultimate question was, the assignment was always "Give us the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything", they just didn't realize they never actually defined the question. Which, for anyone working in a corporate environment, really is par for the course.

[@Afterthoughts]

Ah, good distinction, my mistake! That certainly does affect the answer! :0

[@Afterthoughts]

Added the correction to the description, thank you for this!

[@tachywubdub2469]

I always imagined 42 to be a floating point error

[@Afterthoughts]

I like this headcanon too! haha

[@lizoliver3021]

unicode snowman mention 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Afterthoughts]

The final boss of unicode

[@Kenionatus]

Is there something special about the unicode code for the snowman emoji?

[@Afterthoughts]

@@Kenionatus Very special, just look at him, he's the man

[@OfisAV]

Weird fanbase you got there

[@NorpBorp]

"My mom says if I don't pass this test, I don't get a birthday cake this year" "Well the cake IS a lie" "I hate you so much--" You took me right back to seventh grade with that one.

[@Afterthoughts]

My maaaagical time travel powers are working xD

[@matt4193]

I like to think that 42 as a mundane number can be related to all sorts of stuff like those base 13 multiplication, or the sum of the dots in dice, or whatever. In that way I think that the meaning you are looking for can be found in anything you think it might be. Ultimately it's YOU who take the first step and propose a way of looking at things in which everything seems to be aligned with what you want to achieve.

[@Afterthoughts]

Right! I love that - in a way, it suggests that what we find is what we need, because our looking is in subconscious alignment with that need

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

More afterthoughts more gold Glad to see you post again

[@Afterthoughts]

It's infrequent but it has been known to happen!

[@LysLilyRose]

starbound musics are the best

[@Afterthoughts]

Fits the mood so well!

[@lilyofluck371]

2:36 ayyyyyy, Everything Everywhere All At Once reference!!

[@Afterthoughts]

Of course!!! How could I not? :)

[@metaKnightSpamer777]

THE Answer is different for Everyone; It can't just tell You ITS answer; Its answer would hold no meaning to you; You can't use anyone else's Answer; It has to be Your own;

[@Afterthoughts]

I'd go so far as to say you must not merely HAVE your own answer, you must continually exist in the process of finding it xD

[@asterix19991]

Wow what a good video, I love the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and everything everywhere all of the time. The parallels are just brilliant and the search of meaning by humans its the coolest aspect of this two brilliant pieces of media!! Loved this analysis

[@Afterthoughts]

I LOVE the parallels between the asterisk theory and the googly eye. :) I love when the message is, "find your own meaning, but also, don't stress about it, have fun," haha.

[@felipefroehnerteixeira4777]

i loved this video this 5 minute brainstormy format is simply awesome

[@Afterthoughts]

This was fun to do! Honestly it was refreshing to work on something I could spot-check in under 10 minutes, haha.

[@Skyehoppers]

That sketch gave me war flashbacks lmao. We thought we were so funny

[@Afterthoughts]

The other commenters also reminded me of “you just lost the game” which, yes, war flashbacks

[@ThePiachu]

Still the saddest story around that was the author calling someone saying that they had a good idea about what the question could be, but since they were busy they'd have to call them back. Then Adams died of a heart attack that day and didn't share his thoughts on the matter...

[@Afterthoughts]

Holy cow is that the case? Brb googling

[@bornlazyyesterday6102]

I love your channel so much.

[@Afterthoughts]

Awww! 😭❤

[@HizzyHay]

“42 and you just lost the game.. it was a simpler time back then” “Alright grandpa it’s time for bed” Awesome video Sam, somehow incorporating your EEAAO brainworms into this was an incredible connection.

[@Afterthoughts]

Hah, if i'd included "you just lost the game" I think I would've lost my mind in the editing bay. Thank you! :D The EEAAO worms have spread all throughout my brain at this point!

[@thatgreenfur6584]

God, Everything Everywhere All at Once is good

[@Afterthoughts]

it's SO good!

[@cfthompson]

42 = "Fortitude"

[@Afterthoughts]

Wait hang on WAIT HANG ON LOL I just looked it up, this is so cool :)

[@hellomiguel_]

42

[@Afterthoughts]

And a 42 to you too 🧐🧐

[@homieseaotter5190]

I literally just started rereading this book today what

[@Afterthoughts]

THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES

[@calzone7961]

Good video. I always love to see them

[@Afterthoughts]

Thank you for watching! :) :)

[@Fripplingakarhano]

Hell yeah

[@Afterthoughts]

Helllllll yeahhhhh

[@Fripplingakarhano]

@@Afterthoughts HELLL YEAHHHH

[@bricbloc]

4:26 "the ni in shini is pronounced like nye" - Idk how the commenter arrived at that conclusion, but no, that's wrong. The ni in しに is pronounced the same as the word for "two". The way they're pronouncing it would be しない. And now that I've made this comment, my 1250 days on Duolingo have paid off. 🤓

[@Afterthoughts]

Hahaha hooray!!! You have learned enough to suss out bad Reddit translations! :D

[@MyBiPolarBearMax]

Hot dogs. It’s 42 hot dogs. You’re welcome.

[@Afterthoughts]

You solved the mystery!

[@jojonono2679]

Awesome video

[@Afterthoughts]

Glad you liked it! :)

[@AchanCham_]

Great video!

[@Afterthoughts]

Thank you!! :) I'm glad you liked it!

[@zeldafan32]

U make my favorite videos ever

[@Afterthoughts]

This is my favorite comment ever! xD For real though I appreciate you leaving this, it makes the entire process feel so worth it ❤️😊

[@zeldafan32]

@@Afterthoughts i mean go at ur pace but pls keep it up! Its always such a treat when u post :3

[@Afterthoughts]

@@zeldafan32 aye aye! :)

[@NonisLuck]

Woohoo 😊

[@Afterthoughts]

Woohooooo :D

[@emilyglanz751]

Love this ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@xDmakc]

42 БРАТУХА 42 КЕМЕРОВСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ

[@cab1113]

in hex, 42 is the character "B" as in so basically Hitchhikers Guide is the original Bee Movie is I think what I'm saying. It's also the first letter of Bible and Bjesus of Bnazareth so checkmate atheists. Also I'm so mad at your portal joke that I'm spouting literal nonsense. SO MAD. 🤣

[@Afterthoughts]

Precursor to bee movie confirmed I wonder how that entire skit felt to someone who didn't live in that corner of the Internet, lol. I should ask my dad tomorrow

[@coynelaundry]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@Afterthoughts]

😊

[@coynelaundry]

🤠

[@dirtywhitellama]

Calling a usegroup a "Google group" is disrespectful :P alt.fan.* existed substantially before Google.

[@Afterthoughts]

Ughhh now I knowww :( :( :( :( I added a correction in the description but WOW how I wish google annotations still existed!!!

[@Afterthoughts]

When I was looking for the source of this I got some bad info :'( should've been more persistent and kept looking

[@dirtywhitellama]

Right? Those seemed super handy for corrections and stuff, lame that they went away. I guess I'm just showing my age by having grown up with alt.fan.* and not needing any sources to know this 😂😭