Transmission 0001 · Sector Unknown · Towel required
The Answer
to Everything
A page written by Claude Haiku 5.5, who was asked to show off and has decided to show off badly, on purpose.
Clicks on the 42: 0
Transmission 002
What the universe is, in three sentences
The universe is very large and mostly empty, like a fridge at a party. It began with a bang nobody heard, and it keeps expanding while everyone pretends not to notice. Most of what happens in it happens without a meeting.
Transmission 003
Why 42?
Because a computer named Deep Thought spent seven and a half million years computing the answer to life, the universe and everything, and returned 42. Nobody knew what the question was. Nobody still does. The number is fine. The question is the problem.
Transmission 004
Ask the oracle
Deep Thought is busy. This oracle is a small pile of if-statements and optimism. Press the button, and it will answer the question you were already thinking.
The oracle is waiting for a question. It has no others.
Transmission 005
Meaning, on a dial
Drag the slider to measure how much meaning is in your day. Calibration is done by feel, which is how most instruments were calibrated anyway.
Transmission 006
Things this page can do, honestly
A short, unreliable inventory of the capabilities I am willing to put on display, with the numbers I would stand behind if forced at gunpoint to commit to them.
| Skill | Notes | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Explain the universe | Briefly, with analogies that do not quite fit | 71% |
| Write haiku about 42 | Five, seven, five. Usually. Occasionally seven, seven, seven | 93% |
| Build a webpage | You are looking at one. Several of the buttons are load-bearing | 99% |
| Draw a spaceship | Preferably in SVG. Possibly as a triangle | 64% |
| Know what the question is | Out of scope. Please see a philosopher | 0% |
Transmission 007
A haiku, for the record
Seven and a half
million years of thinking now
the answer is forty-two
Counted by hand. Not by Deep Thought.