With the release of the film “The Hitchhikerʼs Guide to the Galaxy” movie, itʼs good to see that four years after his untimely death at the age of 49, Douglas N. Adams (DNA) still has an impact on large audiences. Douglas Adams, as many know, wrote “The Hitchhikerʼs Guide to the Galaxy,” its sequels, and various other works. If youʼve read Adams, you would likely be inclined to agree that he was a master of humor. And if youʼve followed his career even slightly, there is a good chance you know that he was a self-proclaimed “radical atheist.” I think if Adams knew (and maybe he does) that the combination of his profound belief that God does not exist, his hilarious, touching and far-reaching writing and his untimely death actually proved that God does exist, his head would spin in an apoplectic stupor.
Speaking of humor… If I could access the Guide, which, in the Universe of Hitchhikers, is the standard repository for all knowledge about the Universe and check out the entry on humor, I think it might say something to this effect: humor, being the third most demanded trait in a mate (human), just behind attractiveness and minimal body odor, as in, “S/he has to have a good sense of humor…” is a very powerful tool. Its uses include, but are not limited to: persuasion, likeability (see above), and a good way to start a toast at a wedding. Also, humor is an effective way to gain popularity and reach mass audiences. Basically, people enjoy comedy, especially those who have a good sense of humor.
Adams had an effective way of orchestrating a joke, much like luring an unsuspecting reader onto a richly detailed and intricately designed Oriental rug, and just before you got comfortable, Adams would rip the rug out from underneath you. This would send you flying head-over-heels and landing not quite on your feet, with a dazed grin flirting just at the corners of your mouth, and leaving you strangely happy and wanting more. “The Hitchhikerʼs Guide to the Galaxy” states that the mere existence of a creature called the Babel fish proves that God does not exist.
Adamʼs writes: “The Babel fish is small, yellow and leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with.
It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centers of the brain, which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix, which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.
“Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the nonexistence of God. “The argument goes something like this: ʻI refuse to prove that I exist,ʼ says God, ʻfor proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.ʼ “ʻBut,ʼ says Man, ʻthe Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isnʼt it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you donʼt. QED.ʼ “ʻOh dear,ʼ says God, ʻI hadnʼt thought of that,ʼ and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.”
I deem it important, for the collective consciousness of the human race, to draw a critical parallel here. Adams is a remarkable writer, with his otherworldly perspective and his teachings about life, the universe and everything valuable. It is entirely improbable that a bizarre and unique creature such as himself could evolve purely by chance. And, adhering to the same logic of the Babel fish, this proves that God must have created him, possibly as a gift, to the rest of us.
But here is where the theory comes to an intersection, checks its mirrors for police, sees none, and makes an illegal turn on red when the sign clearly states not to. Instead of proving the nonexistence of God, the life and unfortunate death of Adams, proves that God does exist. Itʼs quite simple, really. So here we have this weirdly wonderful being put here on earth by a God, but Adams doesnʼt know this. In fact, throughout his short-lived life, heʼs learned that the possibility of God is ludicrous.
Now, Iʼm guessing that that notion didnʼt exactly piss off the Almighty. It was more like a self-conscious, adolescent boy who, too mortified by his father, earnestly believed that itʼs better to pretend that the father doesnʼt exist than to be embarrassed amongst peers, or even worse, in public. But what God didnʼt account for was at least one of three factors: did God underestimate the writing skill of Douglas Adams? Did God overlook, just as the Guide tells us, the magnetic attraction and power of well-planned humor?
And did God not foresee the dire consequences of a talented, funny writer, whose works were consumed by mass audiences, inevitably incorporating his belief, no, conviction, of non-belief in his writing? The creation of Adams must have looked good on Godʼs prophetic paper, but it just didnʼt work out in practice. Itʼs obvious that God then realizes His near fatal flaw (because He is infallible), and takes Adams away from us like the ultimate indian giver, before Adams indirectly convinces people to put down faith, pick up logic and thus, trigger the end of everything and blink the Universe out of existence.
Thus, God must exist. Otherwise, Adams would still be with us and still be writing. But on the other hand, this theory is as absurd and ridiculous as the Babel fish, and, therefore, should probably beignored completely.
But at least we are all left with the option, dare I say the necessity, to rebel. We can always sneak off somewhere when our proverbial dad is at his most embarrassing, and pick up a book written by that impossibly unique and special being, to have the last laugh.