I was reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The search for the ultimate question in that book prompted the inner philosopher in me to wonder what the ultimate question is? The ultimate answer 42 given by the book, in a satirical sense, may coincidentally be the right answer with a probability that is infinitesimal but non-zero. The infinitesimal probability needs to be assigned to that answer at this point of time since we do not know what the question is. That brings us to the point of this page, the ultimate answer does not mean much without knowing what the ultimate question is.

In this page, I plan to write down my thoughts on what I think the ultimate question is and a 'highly' (!!??) philosophical discussion on what the answer could be. Or in other words, when I finish this section I'll be as clueless about the answer as I am now. I'll know if my discussion achieves its lofty goal of bordering philosophy, when the reader (you) is more confused after reading the blog than before.

To start finding the ultimate question, I asked the all knowing Google what is the ultimate question. Google promptly replied "In animal behaviour, an inquiry that focuses on the evolutionary significance of a behavioral act.". That made me go through the unanswered questions I've stored in the frontal lobe of my brain. I am assuming here that there is no possibility that any of my already answered-questions can be the ultimate question. The most fascinating unanswered question I had in my brain was 'Is There a God?' and if so how does it fit in with what we know about the universe which is at least 13 billion years old and ever-expanding. Can that question be the ultimate question? I wondered and asked myself why is the presence of God important to me or why do I need to understand what science has to say about the universe. That is when it dawned to me, that the ultimate question from my perspective is "WHO AM I?" and what am I doing here. Google's reply was right!!! My ultimate question was trying to answer the evolutionary significance of the behavioral act of my own existence.

Can the ultimate question to me be the same ultimate question for all mankind? That would certainly be presumptuous of me to believe that. Certainly it is not the most important question for people who are wondering "When and where am I going to get the next meal?" as my wife put it.

Please share your thoughts/comments on what you think is the ultimate question.