The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Background
This article mainly describes fictional objects from the universe of the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
Spaceships
heart of gold
The Heart of Gold is the first spaceship in the universe to be powered by the infinite improbability drive.
“Underneath was a huge spaceship, a hundred and fifty meters long, shaped like a smooth sneaker, snow-white and maddeningly beautiful. In his heart lay, invisible, a small golden box that contained the most ingenious invention ever made, an invention that made this spaceship unique in the history of the galaxy, an invention that gave the spaceship its name - “Heart out Gold"."
At its ceremonial unveiling, it is stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox . In almost all of the first two parts of the novel series, the heroes use this spaceship. The ship's improbability drive also forms the basis for narrative turns. The core of the drive is a gold rod, which is also part of the key with which the slow-motion envelope around the planet Krikkit was closed.
Krikkit 1
The Krikkit 1 is a spaceship built by the people of the planet Krikkit . Since this planet including the sun is surrounded by a cloud of dust, its inhabitants did not know about the existence of the universe and did not develop space travel of their own accord. The dust cloud is the remains of the supercomputer Haktar, which was destroyed by its inventors and which, still functioning in a rudimentary manner, created a spaceship from its components and crashed it onto the planet in order to encourage the inhabitants to explore space. They built the Krikkit 1 based on the model of the wreck sent by Haktar.
Show spaceship from Disaster Area
Desaster Area's black show spaceship is a spaceship that is plunged into a sun as a show effect during a concert mentioned in the second volume of the novel series (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe), which leads to impressive solar flares.
It is stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox and the other main characters of the novel after visiting the restaurant at the end of the universe in ignorance of the actual purpose, without being able to take control of the ship from the autopilot. They escape via a teleporter on board.
The theft is a bit difficult at the beginning because the spaceship is so black that no contours can be seen and there is no friction on the outer skin.
Slartibart barrel 'ship
When Slartibartfaß tries to prevent a group of robots from the planet Krikkit from deactivating the time field that surrounds the home planet of their builders, on behalf of the campaign for the preservation of real time, he flies a ship with extraordinary technologies. It looks like an Italian bistro, but is probably called Bistr-O-Math due to the drive technology used, which is based on the special logic of terms written on restaurant bills.
Vogon flagship
The Vogon Flagship is a Vogon flagship and its sole purpose is to fly around space and destroy stars to build a hyperspace bypass. The one from Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz is a workers ship, yellow and rather ugly. Unbeknownst to the Vogons, Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent are absorbed into it as they attempt to flee Earth as it is being blown up to build a hyperspace bypass. In addition to the Vogons, the Dentrassis work on them. They are the cooks of the Vogons and do everything they can to annoy the Vogons, for example picking up hitchhikers.
The Blagulon Kappa police spaceship
The Blagulon Kappa police spaceship is slate green and resembles a shark in shape. Letters of different sizes and animosity were stuck over the spaceship, describing where the spaceship came from, which police department it belongs to and where the power supply is. Inside the spaceship there is a main computer, which is connected to the miniature computers via a sub-etha, which supplies the police officers with methane in the field. This main computer is safe in almost all situations. The only exception is total feedback and no case is known. The Blagulon Kappa police spaceship committed suicide after Marvin had given him "his views on the universe" out of boredom.
Technologies
Deep thought
Deep Thought (in German about "Tiefer Gedanke"; there is an echo of the expression Deep Throat ) is the second largest computer in the universe ("of time and space"). After seven and a half million years of computing time, he found the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything . The answer was 42 . However, he was unable to formulate the appropriate question, which is why the answer is incomprehensible. For the formulation of said question, Deep Thought designed another largest computer in the universe, so large that it was often confused with a planet, and called it "Earth". The inhabitants of the planet Magrathea, who specialize in the manufacture of made-to-measure planets, are commissioned to build the “earth”.
After this fictional computer, a chess computer developed in 1988 by Carnegie Mellon University and later further developed by IBM was also given the name "Deep Thought".
Infinite improbability drive
The infinite improbability drive is a central theme of the novel. This is a spaceship drive that allows you to cover distances without wasting time. The actual drive of the drives is an infinitely faster computer that is busy with Unwahrscheinlichkeitsberechnungen. The trick is to ask something absolutely improbable, quasi “infinitely improbable”, as a task, so that this infinitely fast computer tries to calculate infinites immediately. The task that then led to the breakthrough in performance of the drive was how unlikely it was to create this "infinite improbability drive". With the drive activated, the spaceship flies through practically every point in the universe at the same time; In addition, the trip is more often accompanied by the most absurd incidents, for example one activation of the drive triggers the emergence of life and another ensures that the ship and crew are shrunk to miniature size and land in Zaphod's jacket pocket. This happens because the speed of the spaceship is calculated using instochastics and determined by improbability factors . This makes improbable things probable at once. The effect slowly clears itself a few minutes after the drive is disabled, but most of the sequelae persist. The drive represents a technological innovation in the history of the Hitchhiker's Universe, but will soon be replaced by the Bistr-O-Mathik-Drive because of its unreliability and unforeseeable incidents .
Bistr-O-Math
The Bistr-O-Math enables speeds similar to the Infinite Improbability Drive ; However, it does not depend on complex calculations, but is based on the knowledge that numbers in restaurants follow different laws than elsewhere. Therefore, the data center of Slartibartfass' spaceship, which is powered by Bistr-O-Mathik, consists of an Italian restaurant.
“The Bistr-O-Mathik-Drive is a gorgeous new way of traveling huge interstellar distances without all the dangerous fiddling with improbability factors. […] Numbers that are written on restaurant bills within restaurant boundaries do not follow the same mathematical laws as numbers that are written on every other piece of paper in all other areas of the universe. "
"" On a waiter's bill, "said Slartibartfaß," reality and unreality collide so fundamentally that one becomes the other and everything is possible within certain limits. ""
One of the most bizarre mathematical terms defined in Bistr-O-Mathik is the reciprocal exclusion: a number that can only be described by the fact that it is anything but itself.
Other-people's problem field
The PAL field ( problem-other-people field , English. Somebody Else's Problem (SEP) -field ) is used in the novel to camouflage spaceships or the like. It's much simpler and more effective in the hitchhikers' universe than a normal invisibility field (and can also be operated for over a hundred years with a simple flashlight battery). Its function is based on people's innate tendency not to see what they do not want to see, did not expect, or cannot explain. They just declare it to be other people's problem and therefore simply don't see it.
The field is mentioned in the book Life, the Universe and All the Rest , when a spaceship (the Slartibartfaß spaceship powered by the Bistr-O-Mathik-Drive) lands in the middle of the Lord's Cricket Ground during a game , the assembled spectators it however not perceive at all .
Babel fish
The Babel fish is small, yellow and leech-like and probably the most peculiar thing there is in the whole Hitchhiker universe. It lives in the ear of its host and feeds on brain waves that it withdraws from its surroundings. It absorbs all unconscious thinking frequencies of these brain waves. Then it secretes a telepathic matrix into the brain of its host, which is composed of the conscious thinking frequencies and nerve signals of the language centers of the brain, which leads to the fact that one understands everything that is said in any language with a Babelfish in the ear. The speech patterns one hears are deciphered by the brainwave matrix.
Babel Fish is also called the translation program used by AltaVista , Google and Yahoo! was used or will be used.
To fly
The Hitchhiker describes flying as a trick that involves throwing yourself on the ground and then missing it at the last moment, or simply forgetting that you should actually come up, as Ford Prefect describes it. Arthur Dent succeeds in this when he tries to avoid certain death.
Joo-Janta Danger-O-Sensitive
The Hazard -O-Sensitive glasses automatically darken in the event of danger. Because he does not even notice the danger, the wearer does not panic.
Background information and absurdities
Pangalactic thunder gurgler
The Pangalactic Thunder Gargle (in the English original Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster ) is supposedly the strongest drink in the galaxy. The effect of a pangalactic thunder gurgler is something like "like getting your brain thrashed out of your head with a huge gold bar wrapped in lemon wedges". It is the favorite drink of Zaphod Beeblebrox, who also invented it.
The pangalactic thunder gurgler has also found its way into real recipe collections as a term from pop culture. Since the novel describes concepts in this regard that are not easily transferable to reality, there are various recipes. These were developed with the aim of approaching the effect described in the novel, since the taste is not examined there.
Jynnan Tonnyx
About 85% of all the worlds in the universe have developed a drink called Jynnan Tonnyx. Or Dschi-N'N-T'N-ix or Jinnunt-O-Nicks or some other variation. These drinks are not the same, the only thing they have in common is their name. The different varieties range from the Sivolvian Chinunto / Mnings, which is just normal water, which is served a little warmer than room temperature, to the Tzjin-Anton-X, which "knocks cows up to a hundred paces away". The greatest peculiarity, however, is that the invention of the drink is always about to become known about the existence of extraterrestrial life - also on earth, which Vogons contacted a few decades after the invention of the gin and tonic .
Total swirl of transparency
According to the hitchhiker Roosta mentioned in the novel, the total transparency vortex is the "cruelest soul torture to which a sentient being can be subjected", since it is the only object in the universe that does not harm the body or the mind, but the soul. The through-vision vortex was invented by Trin Tragula with the aim of wiping out his wife, who claimed that he should finally get a sense of proportionality.
The vortex works according to the principle of analyzing extrapolated matter: all matter particles in the universe interact, so one can extrapolate the entirety of creation from a piece of punch cake, for example. The through-vision vortex is consequently structured as follows: At one end is the entire reality, extrapolated from a piece of punch cake. At the other end, a person now gets a glimpse into the entirety of creation: One sees an infinite number of suns, between which there are distances that cannot be grasped by the mind of living beings and a barely visible arrow that points to a point that cannot be seen with the naked eye, which is labeled "That's you." In short: you see yourself in relation to the whole infinity of creation.
When Trin Tragula discovers that this sight completely destroys his wife's brain, he concludes: If life in the universe wants to endure, then it cannot afford to have a sense of proportionality.
In the book, the through-view vortex changes location several times and is finally placed on Frog Star B. Its exterior is described as a steel dome. He is guarded by the disembodied spirit (Pispot) Gargravarr. The novel mentions that it is not known whether Gargravarr's body or mind received custody of the given name.
The vortex of vision is an important element of the narrative because in the hitchhiking universe, Zaphod Beeblebrox is the only one who survives the total vortex of vision unscathed. In the story, this is due to the fact that at this time he is in an artificial universe specially made for him and is therefore the most important part of the universe and thus confirms his views of himself. This will prepare him for a later task. After surviving the stay in the through-view vortex, he strengthens himself with the piece of punch cake.
Instochastics
In the hitchhiker's universe, instochastics (cf. stochastics ) is the doctrine of rarity and improbability. It is a mathematical discipline that consists of the sub-areas of improbability theory and Bistr-O-math .
With the help of instochastics, for example, one can calculate the improbability of a rocket suddenly transforming into a sperm whale or a pot of petunias, which actually happens in the novel when the heart of gold approaches the planet Magrathea.
Pen theory
The pens theory is a conspiracy theory that Fiet Vujagig , a student at the University of Maximegalon has set. The theory states that all ballpoint pens that suddenly disappear and go on a journey to a ballpoint penoid planet in an unsupervised moment and then live there. Fiet Vujagig further claims to have found this planet and worked for a while as a driver for a small family of ballpoint pens. How all of this relates to Zaphod Beeblebrox's extremely lucrative business with used ballpoint pens is not explained in The Hitchhiker.
Doors
The doors on the Heart of Gold give everyone the impression that it is a pleasure for them to open up to them. In the 1990s , your main motto "You made a simple door very happy" was often found in the end texts of various mailboxes . Of course, these doors are an invention of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. Marvin is at war with the doors because of their permanent happiness.
Ningi
In the hitchhiker's universe, a ningi is a triangular rubber coin with an edge length of 6,800 miles. The conversion rate is 8 ningi for a triganic pu. The novel notes, however, that no one has yet got enough ningis to change them into a pooh.
The ningi is one of the three convertible currencies in the hitchhiker's universe (the atair dollar and flainian booger pearl are the other two).
Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation is the company in the hitchhiker's universe that is responsible for almost all technical developments. These include Marvin, the doors in the spaceships that not only open and close automatically, but also thank you for using them, the vertical people transporters in the “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” building and the Nutri-Matic drinks -Synthesizer that pretends to tailor its synthesized beverages exactly to the taste and metabolism of the customer, but actually always produced the same liquid “which was almost (but not entirely) completely different from tea”.
The complaints department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation stretches across the contiguous land masses of three planets and is the only business unit that consistently generates profit. Their slogan is "grab it and enjoy!"
"The travel guide The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines the marketing department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as" a pack of mindless lunatics who will be the first to be put on the wall when the revolution comes "[...]. Oddly enough, a copy of Encyclopaedia Galactica fortunate enough to fall out of the future a thousand years away defined the marketing department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as "a pack of mindless lunatics who were the first to be put on the wall as them Revolution came "."
Vogons
The Vogons are socially and emotionally primitive beings from the planet Vogsphere. Nevertheless, within a few years they have developed interstellar travel, moved to the political center of the galaxy and now form the backbone of the civil service. The Vogone Prostetnik Vogon Jeltz is responsible for blowing up planet Earth in favor of a new hyperspace express route.
The Vogon poetry
The Vogon poetry is the third worst in the hitchhiker's universe. To prove this, a poem by the character Prostetnik Vogon Jeltz is given:
"
Oh shattered grunt, your urge to urinate is
like Schnatterfleck on a bee sting for me .
Grupp, I conjure you my punzig Turteldrom.
And rush me with crinkly curls,
because otherwise I'll border you in your gobber warts
With my purse wreath, just wait and see!"
The second worst poetry in the story is that of the Asgothen of Kria. During the recitation of the poem "Ode to a little green lump of putty that I found in my armpit one summer morning " by her poet prince Grunthos the inflated four of his listeners died of internal bleeding, and the president of the Middle Galactic Art Council only got away with his life because he nibbled off one of his legs. In a last-ditch effort to save art and culture, the poet's bowels turned up and strangled his brain.
The worst of all poetry goes under with its creator, Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings from Essex, in the destruction of the earth. According to Neil Gaiman in his book Don't Panic , this name is derived from a school friend of Adams' of a similar name.
Religions and deities
“In the beginning the universe was created. That made a lot of people very angry and was seen everywhere as a step in the wrong direction. "
Great Green Arkel attack
The Jatravartids on Viltwodl VI are convinced that the universe was not created by a god, but simply sneezed out by a being called the "Great Green Arkel attack". They live in constant fear of what they call "The Coming of the Big White Handkerchief". Outside of Viltwodl VI, this religion does not have many followers.
The great holy prophet Zarquon
While we say “Oh dear God”, in the hitchhiking universe it is often “Oh holy Zarquon”. He is expected by the "Church of Return". The novel describes that the prophet Zarquon appears unexpectedly in the restaurant at the end of the universe , but disappears with him in the course of the end of the universe. This incident is described as his last appearance.
“The expectant, awesome silence seemed to frighten him [Zarquon]. He cleared his throat. "Uh, how's the time?" He asked. "I only have a minute ..." And so the universe ended. "
bob
Bob is the god of the Lamuellans in the hitchhiker's universe . The novel describes Bob as a god like any other and mentions that the Lamuellans believe in Bob's will .
Old Trashbarg
Revered Lamuellan storyteller like a prophet. Only Lamuellan with a dictionary. But he doesn't want to show that to anyone.
Rob McKenna
The truck driver Rob McKenna is, without his knowing it himself, a god of rain - he is always out and about in the rain. All clouds know "nothing else than that they loved him and wanted to be close to him to caress and water". Analogous to Eskimos, who supposedly have numerous words for snow, he distinguishes 231 different types of rain, with number 17 annoying him the most. He thinks other people's stories about sun and beautiful weather are nonsensical. If he knew that he was a rain god, he would be most warmly welcomed in many desert regions of the world, but he does not know. However, tour operators offer him huge sums for not going to their travel destinations.
The meaning of the universe or what happens when it is found ...
Douglas Adams writes the following in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe":
“There is a theory that if anyone ever finds out exactly what the universe is for and why it is there, then it disappears on the spot and is replaced by something even more bizarre and incomprehensible. There is another theory that this has already happened. "
God and the proof that He doesn't exist
The proof is based on the existence of the Babylonian fish, a fish that overcomes all language barriers through its translation services:
“I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “because proof is against faith, and without faith I am nothing.” “But,” says the human being, “the Babelfish is an unconscious revelation, Is not it? It couldn't have developed by accident. It proves that you exist, and therefore, according to your own reasoning, you do not exist. Quod erat demonstrandum. "" Oh dear God, "says God," I never thought of that, "and promptly dissolves into a cloud of logic. "Great," says the person, "that was easy," and proves, because it's so beautiful, that black equals white, and a little later comes under the wheels on a zebra crossing. "
Planets
The earth
The earth, the home of Tricia McMillan and Arthur Dents, is actually not a planet at all. It is a giant computer designed by the Deep Thought computer to find the answer to the question of all questions, 42. The earth and all things and beings on it are part of a matrix that is supposed to calculate the question. Five minutes before the end of the calculation, however, the earth will be blown up by the Vogons because it lies in the catchment area of a planned hyperspace bypass road.
Magrathea
Magrathea is a planet with two suns located in the Horsehead Nebula. The surface of the planet is rough, gray-brown and not very varied. The inhabitants of the planet lived from building individually designed planets for wealthy customers. Since the high prices for artificially built planets created a financial imbalance and a financial crisis in the universe, Magrathea had to stop its production, cut itself off from the outside world and became a legend. The planet's existence is confirmed in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Zaphod Beeblebrox, who successfully tries to find Magrathea.
Betelgeuse 7
Betelgeuse 7 was the home planet of Ford Prefect's father. The planet was destroyed as part of the Great Hrung Explosion Disaster in Gal./Sid./Year 03758 under unexplained circumstances; Ford's father was the only survivor. His son's name comes from an old Belieglian dialect that has practically died out since the great explosion.
Betelgeuse 5
Betelgeuse 5 is a planet near Betelgeuse and is where Ford Prefect lived in his later youth. The language spoken there has no name.
Ursa Minor Beta
The Hitchhiker's head office is on Ursa Minor Beta. There are no real nights on the planet; it is almost always Saturday afternoon. The only city on the planet is called "Light City" and can only be reached by air because there are no roads or ports. The residents of Ursa Minor Beta are the UM betans who lie on the beach all day. The planet's suicide rate quadrupled when Playpeople magazine published an article entitled "If You're Tired of Ursa Minor Beta, You're Tired of Life."
literature
- Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), ISBN 3-453-14697-2 .
- Douglas Adams: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe), ISBN 3-453-14698-0
- Douglas Adams: Life, the Universe and Everything (Life, the Universe, and Everything), ISBN 3-453-14605-0
- Douglas Adams: Take care and thank you for the fish (So Long and Thanks for All the Fish), ISBN 3-453-14606-9
- Douglas Adams: Once Rupert and Back (Mostly Harmless), ISBN 3-453-08230-3
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 25
- ↑ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 2
- ↑ The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Chapter 8
- ↑ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 17
- ↑ Take Care , and Thanks for the Fish, Chapter 3
- ↑ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 5