Douglas Noël Adams foi um escritor e comediante britânico, famoso por ter escrito esquetes para a série televisiva Monty Python's Flying Circus, junto com os integrantes desse grupo de humor nonsense, e pela série de rádio, jogos e livros The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Os fãs e amigos de Adams o descreveram também como um ativista ambiental, um assumido ateísta radical e amante dos automóveis possantes, câmeras, computadores Macintosh e outros 'apetrechos tecnológicos'. O biólogo Richard Dawkins dedicou-lhe seu livro The God Delusion e nele descreve como Adams compreendeu a teoria da evolução e, tornou-se um ateísta. Adams era um entusiasta de novas tecnologias, tendo escrito sobre email e usenet antes de tornarem-se amplamente conhecidos. Até o fim de sua vida, Adams foi um requisitado professor de tópicos que incluíam ambiente e tecnologia.
Em 11 de março de 2013, dia em que Adams completaria 61 anos, o Google criou um Doodle especial para comemorar pelo seu aniversário.
Wikipedia
“É um erro acreditar que é possível resolver qualquer problema importante usando batatas.”
Life, the Universe and Everything, capítulo 24
Variante: É um erro acreditar que é possível resolver qualquer problema importante usando apenas batatas.
There is a theory which states that if anybody ever discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias
“Ah, a vida - disse Marvin, lúgubre. - Pode-se odiá-la ou ignorá-la, mas é impossível gostar dela.”
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
“O sentido disso tudo é que não há sentido em tentar enlouquecer para impedir-se de ficar louco.”
Life, the Universe and Everything, capítulo 2
Life, the Universe and Everything
O Guia do Mochileiro das Galáxias
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
“It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.”
Fonte: Life, the Universe and Everything
“We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.”
Fonte: The Salmon of Doubt (2002)
“God's Final Message to His Creation:
'We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Fonte: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Fonte: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Fonte: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Contexto: If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don’t. It’s like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don’t hurt it. Not even major surgery if it’s done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make.
The Salmon of Doubt (2002)
Contexto: For Children: You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. It's quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken. Like most things, of course, it isn't quite that simple. The fried egg isn't properly a fried egg until it's been put in a frying pan and fried. This is something you wouldn't do to a Friday, of course, though you might do it on a Friday. You can also fry eggs on a Thursday, if you like, or on a cooker. It's all rather complicated, but it makes a kind of sense if you think about it for a while.
“You made us what you would not dare to be yourselves. Yet you will not acknowledge us.”
Fonte: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 22
Contexto: "Immortals are what you wanted," said Thor in a low, quiet voice. "Immortals are what you got. It is a little hard on us. You wanted us to be for ever, so we are for ever. Then you forget about us. But we are still for ever. Now at last, many are dead, many are dying," he then added in a quiet voice, "but it takes a special effort."
"I can't even begin to understand what you're talking about," said Kate, "you say that I, we —"
"You can begin to understand," said Thor, angrily, "which is why I have come to you. Do you know that most people hardly see me? Hardly notice me at all? It is not that we are hidden. We are here. We move among you. My people. Your gods. You gave birth to us. You made us what you would not dare to be yourselves. Yet you will not acknowledge us. If I walk along one of your streets in this... world you have made for yourselves without us, then barely an eye will once flicker in my direction."
"Is this when you're wearing the helmet?"
"Especially when I'm wearing the helmet!"
“I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.”
Speech http://www.biota.org/people/douglasadams/index.html at Digital Biota 2 http://www.cyberbiology.org/, Cambridge, UK, (1998) <!-- also quoted in Richard Dawkins' eulogy http://www.edge.org/documents/adams_index.html for Douglas Adams -->
Contexto: 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, may 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, it's still 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. We all know that at some point in the future the Universe will come to an end and at some other point, considerably in advance from that but still not immediately pressing, the sun will explode. We feel there's plenty of time to worry about that, but on the other hand that's a very dangerous thing to say.
“It's all rather complicated, but it makes a kind of sense if you think about it for a while.”
The Salmon of Doubt (2002)
Contexto: For Children: You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. It's quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken. Like most things, of course, it isn't quite that simple. The fried egg isn't properly a fried egg until it's been put in a frying pan and fried. This is something you wouldn't do to a Friday, of course, though you might do it on a Friday. You can also fry eggs on a Thursday, if you like, or on a cooker. It's all rather complicated, but it makes a kind of sense if you think about it for a while.
“Especially when I'm wearing the helmet!”
Fonte: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 22
Contexto: "Immortals are what you wanted," said Thor in a low, quiet voice. "Immortals are what you got. It is a little hard on us. You wanted us to be for ever, so we are for ever. Then you forget about us. But we are still for ever. Now at last, many are dead, many are dying," he then added in a quiet voice, "but it takes a special effort."
"I can't even begin to understand what you're talking about," said Kate, "you say that I, we —"
"You can begin to understand," said Thor, angrily, "which is why I have come to you. Do you know that most people hardly see me? Hardly notice me at all? It is not that we are hidden. We are here. We move among you. My people. Your gods. You gave birth to us. You made us what you would not dare to be yourselves. Yet you will not acknowledge us. If I walk along one of your streets in this... world you have made for yourselves without us, then barely an eye will once flicker in my direction."
"Is this when you're wearing the helmet?"
"Especially when I'm wearing the helmet!"
Parrots, the Universe and Everything (2001)
Contexto: For us, there is no longer a fundamental mystery about Life. It is all the process of extraordinary eruptions of information, and it is information which gives us this fantastically rich, complex world in which we live; but at the same time that we've discovered that we are destroying it at a rate that has no precedent in history, unless you go back to the point when we are hit by an asteroid!
“They even keep it on at weekends. Someone was bound to notice sooner or later.”
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Contexto: "Sir Isaac Newton, renowned inventor of the milled-edge coin and the catflap!"
"The what?" said Richard.
"The catflap! A device of the utmost cunning, perspicuity and invention. It is a door within a door, you see, a..."
"Yes," said Richard, "there was also the small matter of gravity."
"Gravity," said Dirk with a slightly dismissive shrug, "yes, there was that as well, I suppose. Though that, of course, was merely a discovery. It was there to be discovered." …
"You see?" he said dropping his cigarette butt, "They even keep it on at weekends. Someone was bound to notice sooner or later. But the catflap … ah, there is a very different matter. Invention, pure creative invention. It is a door within a door, you see."
Response to the question "What is it about science that really gets your blood running?" — as quoted in Richard Dawkins in his eulogy for Adams (17 September 2001)
Contexto: The world is a thing of utter inordinate complexity and richness and strangeness that is absolutely awesome. I mean the idea that such complexity can arise not only out of such simplicity, but probably absolutely out of nothing, is the most fabulous extraordinary idea. And once you get some kind of inkling of how that might have happened, it's just wonderful. And … the opportunity to spend 70 or 80 years of your life in such a universe is time well spent as far as I am concerned.
“Sir Isaac Newton, renowned inventor of the milled-edge coin and the catflap!”
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Contexto: "Sir Isaac Newton, renowned inventor of the milled-edge coin and the catflap!"
"The what?" said Richard.
"The catflap! A device of the utmost cunning, perspicuity and invention. It is a door within a door, you see, a..."
"Yes," said Richard, "there was also the small matter of gravity."
"Gravity," said Dirk with a slightly dismissive shrug, "yes, there was that as well, I suppose. Though that, of course, was merely a discovery. It was there to be discovered." …
"You see?" he said dropping his cigarette butt, "They even keep it on at weekends. Someone was bound to notice sooner or later. But the catflap … ah, there is a very different matter. Invention, pure creative invention. It is a door within a door, you see."
“The kid was deliberately and maliciously watching television at him.”
Fonte: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 6
Contexto: Dirk was unused to making such a minuscule impact on anybody. He checked to be sure that he did have his huge leather coat and his absurd red hat on and that he was properly and dramatically silhouetted by the light of the doorway.
He felt momentarily deflated and said, "Er..." by way of self-introduction, but it didn't get the boy's attention. He didn't like this. The kid was deliberately and maliciously watching television at him.
“It is not that we are hidden. We are here. We move among you.”
Fonte: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 22
Contexto: "Immortals are what you wanted," said Thor in a low, quiet voice. "Immortals are what you got. It is a little hard on us. You wanted us to be for ever, so we are for ever. Then you forget about us. But we are still for ever. Now at last, many are dead, many are dying," he then added in a quiet voice, "but it takes a special effort."
"I can't even begin to understand what you're talking about," said Kate, "you say that I, we —"
"You can begin to understand," said Thor, angrily, "which is why I have come to you. Do you know that most people hardly see me? Hardly notice me at all? It is not that we are hidden. We are here. We move among you. My people. Your gods. You gave birth to us. You made us what you would not dare to be yourselves. Yet you will not acknowledge us. If I walk along one of your streets in this... world you have made for yourselves without us, then barely an eye will once flicker in my direction."
"Is this when you're wearing the helmet?"
"Especially when I'm wearing the helmet!"
Statement of 1984, as quoted in Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion (1988) by Neil Gaiman, p. 2
Contexto: When you're a student or whatever, and you can't afford a car, or a plane fare, or even a train fare, all you can do is hope that someone will stop and pick you up.
At the moment we can't afford to go to other planets. We don't have the ships to take us there. There may be other people out there (I don't have any opinions about Life Out There, I just don't know) but it's nice to think that one could, even here and now, be whisked away just by hitchhiking.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Contexto: If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don’t. It’s like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don’t hurt it. Not even major surgery if it’s done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make.
“Politely rude. Briskly vague. Firmly uninformative.”
The Meaning of Liff (1983)
Contexto: CLIXBY (adj.) Politely rude. Briskly vague. Firmly uninformative.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
“This is an interesting world I find myself in”
Speech http://www.biota.org/people/douglasadams/index.html at Digital Biota 2 http://www.cyberbiology.org/, Cambridge, UK, (1998) <!-- also quoted in Richard Dawkins' eulogy http://www.edge.org/documents/adams_index.html for Douglas Adams -->
Contexto: 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, may 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, it's still 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. We all know that at some point in the future the Universe will come to an end and at some other point, considerably in advance from that but still not immediately pressing, the sun will explode. We feel there's plenty of time to worry about that, but on the other hand that's a very dangerous thing to say.
“To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.”
Fonte: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
“Life is wasted on the living.”
Fonte: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
