Editing Meaning of life (section)

==In popular culture==

The mystery of life and its true meaning is an often recurring subject in [[popular culture]], featured in [[mass media|entertainment media]] and [[the arts|various forms]] of art.

''[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life]]'' includes a character played by [[Michael Palin]] being handed an envelope containing "the meaning of life", which she opens and reads out to the audience: "Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."<ref name="useless website">{{cite web|url=http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/meanlife.asp|title=Monty Python's Completely Useless Web Site: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life: Complete Script|work=intriguing.com|access-date=17 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215164915/http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/meanlife.asp|archive-date=15 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Burnham">{{Cite book |author=Terry Burnham |title=Mean Markets and Lizard Brains: How to Profit from the New Science of Irrationality |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-471-71695-2}}</ref><ref name="Fernandez">{{Cite book |author=Yolanda Fernandez |title=In Their Shoes: Examining the Issue of Empathy and Its Place in the Treatment of Offenders |publisher=Wood 'N' Barnes Publishing |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-885473-48-6}}</ref>

In [[Douglas Adams]]' book ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', the [[Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything]] is given the numeric solution "[[42 (number)|42]]", after seven and a half million years of calculation by a giant [[supercomputer]] called [[Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Deep Thought|Deep Thought]]. When this answer is met with confusion and anger from its constructors, Deep Thought explains that "I think the problem such as it was, was too broadly based. You never actually stated what the question was."<ref>{{cite AV media|last1=Adams|first1=Douglas|title=The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Fit the Fourth)|publisher=BBC Radio 4|language=en|type=Audio, Radio|date=29 March 1978|quote=I think the problem such as it was, was too broadly based. You never actually stated what the question was.}}</ref><ref name="Baggini"/><ref name="Yeffeth">{{Cite book |author=Glenn Yeffeth |title=The Anthology at the End of the Universe: Leading Science Fiction Authors on Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |publisher= BenBella Books, Inc |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-932100-56-3}}</ref><ref name="Badke">{{Cite book |author=William B. Badke |title=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Meaning of Everything |publisher=Kregel Publications |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-8254-2069-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/hitchhikersguide00badk }}</ref><ref name="Adams H2G2 book1">{{Cite book |title=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy |author=Douglas Adams |author-link=Douglas Adams |isbn=978-0-330-25864-7 |date=1979 |publisher=Pan Books |location=London|title-link=The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (book) }}</ref> Deep Thought then constructs another computer—the Earth—to calculate what the Ultimate Question actually is. Later Ford and Arthur manage to extract the question as the Earth computer would have rendered it. That question turns out to be "what do you get if you multiply six by nine",<ref>{{cite AV media|last1=Adams|first1=Douglas|title=The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Fit the Sixth)|publisher=BBC Radio 4|type=Audio, Radio|date=12 April 1978|quote=That’s it. Six by nine… forty-two! I always said there was something fundamentally wrong about the universe!}}</ref> and it is realised that [[Garbage in, garbage out|the program was ruined by the unexpected arrival of the Golgafrinchans]] on Earth, and so the actual Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, And Everything remains unknown.

In [[Person of Interest (TV series)|''Person of Interest'']] season 5 episode 13, an artificial intelligence referred to as The Machine tells Harold Finch that the secret of life is "Everyone dies alone. But if you mean something to someone, if you help someone, or love someone. If even a single person remembers you then maybe you never really die at all." This phrase is then repeated at the very end of the show to add emphasis to the finale.<ref>{{cite news |title="Person of Interest" recap (5.13): The sound of my voice |url=https://www.afterellen.com/tv/492845-person-interest-recap-5-13-sound-voice |access-date=24 August 2019 |work=After Ellen}}</ref>
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