[hilbert42]

"Hitchhiker’s is hard to summarize, but one of its overarching themes is that technology, in the hands of big business and bloated bureaucracies, does not make life better: in fact it makes it far, far worse."

Seems Adams was ahead of his time, I wonder what he would have thought if he were alive today given the antics of Google, Facebook et al.

Incidentally, my printer is called Marvin for obvious reasons (Adams almost mandated that name for these cantankerous devices, especially networked ones).

[RichardCA]

He would no doubt comment on the absurdity of companies like Google, the unprecedented level of human talent and inventiveness dedicated to tasks such as allowing us to view pictures of cats, or get into petty squabbles with strangers.

There's also the matter of Google users who inexplicably lose access to their account, and the response is so utterly obtuse it would cause a Vogon to blush.

I would never wish for any Google or Facebook employee to be "First against the wall" but I do admire Adams' unerring prescience in this matter.

[mckirk]

Given how heavily Adams struggled with procrastination, I wonder how he'd have fared in today's distractopia... he might not've gotten around to writing much. But what I wouldn't give to have him still around even just for the occasional quip.

[MattKimber]

I have a mental image of people setting great store in which platform Douglas Adams has moved to lately, given his tendency to hop between media and delight in the new and interesting.

I can certainly see him both being delighted by Twitter and also becoming incredibly bored with Twitter, over not too long a time period...

[ctdonath]

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.” - D. Adams

[soylentcola]

Until my most recent workstation build, my two computers were Deepthought (the higher-end desktop) and Marvin (smaller and more finicky laptop).

Never did think of an appropriate name for the new desktop though.

edit: thanks for all of the suggestions!

[capableweb]

The successor of Deepthought is Gaia/Terra/Tellus, so maybe one of those :)

[hilbert42]

You're welcome. Just a reminder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0yBf1JKTw8

[e3bc54b2]

Heart of Gold?

[dylan604]

Earth2.0

[capableweb]

You're doing a Microsoft and skipping one version? Why not just "Earth"? Deepthought wasn't Earth.

[dylan604]

Earth was the computer before the Vogons destroyed it. Earth2.0 was what Slartibartfast was building for the mice. Just providing computer names from within the book. Deepthought can still exist even if the user replaces it with a new computer.

[hilbert42]

I wish TV stations would rerun the BBC serialization of Hitchhiker's. I've actually read Adams' books but it'd be nice to see the TV version again. (I used to love Peter Jones as The Book, his matter-of-fact tone made him just ideal for the job.)

[dylan604]

Adams himself changed every single version from radio, book, TV, film, etc. So you really need to absorb them in all of the formats to get it all

[charlieflowers]

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some on YouTube