Perhaps heresy in present company, but I don’t adhere to the notion that Douglas Adams was particularly prescient with his invention of the device known fondly as “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (H2G2). Rather, I think it was a happy mashup of his interest in computers (like the Commodore PET) and an ancestor of “The Lonely Planet” series that he carried along with him on his wanderings through Europe.
I have been an avid reader of “hard” science fiction since grade school, and consumed just about anything written by Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Greg Bear, to name but a few. (I still do, having recently re-read a number of their works that I had packed away in a moving box some twenty years ago, and not opened until I moved home to the Pacific Northwest in 2018.) It is in the context of their collective imagination that I evaluate the “technology” put forth by all others, Douglas Adams included. And by that standard, H2G2 doesn’t measure up as an oracle of future technology.
That said, all is not lost with H2G2. It is a bit of a Pythonesque romp (for good reason), and it is entertaining.
And it does set forth a few pearls that are relevant to both the Media 111 experience, and life, the universe and everything.
I’ve experienced sufficient years and s**tshows that I’ve learned to act on what I can control, and (try) not to worry about what I cannot. It’s not been easy, nor is it now, as I am a consummate worrier, but I’ve learned a lot from my wife of thirty-five years, who is anything but. So, Lesson 1: Don’t Panic!
Rather than be paralyzed by the possibilities, I’ve learned that focusing my energy on determining what is critical, and thinking through contingencies (“hope for the best, but plan for the worst”) helps ease the way through “interesting” times. So does keeping a ditch bag, or go bag handy, packed with the essentials, in the event that an immediate change in venue is warranted. Thus, Lesson 2: Know where your towel is!
I’m one of those odd ducks that (now) believes that it’s less about where you go than how you get there. In other words, the journey is everything, it is all-encompassing, and includes all of those you meet along the way. Last, Lesson 3: You might as well enjoy it!