To chart Douglas Adams' degeneration as a writer

Odradek · 2016-08-28 00:31:55

Compare the whale in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy to the Puddle Analogy

Obā-san · 2016-08-28 00:33:56

Odradek · 2016-08-28 00:34:05

“Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet.

And since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms with not being a whale any more.

This is a complete record of its thoughts from the moment it began its life till the moment it ended it.

Ah … ! What’s happening? it thought.

Er, excuse me, who am I?

Hello?

Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life?

What do I mean by who am I?

Calm down, get a grip now … oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It’s a sort of … yawning, tingling sensation in my … my … well I suppose I’d better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call the world, so let’s call it my stomach.

Good. Ooooh, it’s getting quite strong. And hey, what’s about this whistling roaring sound going past what I’m suddenly going to call my head? Perhaps I can call that … wind! Is that a good name? It’ll do … perhaps I can find a better name for it later when I’ve found out what it’s for. It must be something very important because there certainly seems to be a hell of a lot of it. Hey! What’s this thing? This … let’s call it a tail – yeah, tail. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can’t I? Wow! Wow! That feels great! Doesn’t seem to achieve very much but I’ll probably find out what it’s for later on. Now – have I built up any coherent picture of things yet?

No.

Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, I’m quite dizzy with anticipation …

Or is it the wind?

There really is a lot of that now isn’t it?

And wow! Hey! What’s this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like … ow … ound … round … ground! That’s it! That’s a good name – ground!

I wonder if it will be friends with me?

And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence.

Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was Oh no, not again. Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.”

Odradek · 2016-08-28 00:34:43

“This is rather as if you imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in — an interesting hole I find myself in — fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!' This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.”

Odradek · 2016-08-28 00:36:07

I would rather spend time with the writer of the first passage than the writer of the second passage

Imipolex G · 2016-08-28 02:28:50

I disagree, as I cannot condone the senseless death of a fictional whale.

Sredni Vashtar · 2016-08-28 02:40:02

The thing is, each reflects a different side of Adams as a whole person and different concerns and thoughts about what it means to be alive, or rather two related but subtly distinct facets of the same idea and overall philosophy as regards meaning and importance. Both are a bit dark and ontologically somewhat nihilistic, but the first passage is less uncompromising and more amusing because it's not dwelling on the darker side of the "God has a plan" mentality as the second part does, obliquely, so much as how life is random and kind of wondrous.

Odradek · 2016-08-28 12:34:57

It's condescending as fuck and Dawkinsing out

Sredni Vashtar · 2016-08-28 15:01:16

I... don't think so? It reminds me of cosmicism, really, how we ascribe meaning and design on the universe in this very arrogant way and expect it to be tailored to our needs. It's like a jab at people who think prayer is like a wishing well and disasters are all part of God's plan until it happens to them, but maybe a little less mean than that because it treats that attitude as misinformed and naïve rather than wilfully ignorant and selfish.

I could go into a whole rant about the deep misunderstanding that folks seem to have of ideas like "God helps those who help themselves" and "praying on it," but suffice it to say I think that scepticism of bad atitudes in religious practice do not automatically equate to smarmy high-handed holer-than-thou prickishness in my book, and I resent that arithmetic.

To chart Douglas Adams' degeneration as a writer

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