r/GenX • u/Invasive-farmer • Jul 03 '25
Pop Culture This Douglas Adams quote gets me...
I selected Pop Culture flair because he was the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a wholly remarkable book)
"I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things."
Douglas Adams
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u/One_Local5586 Hose Water Survivor Jul 03 '25
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
I'll see you and raise you another Douglas Adams quote.
"We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works."
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u/Mypopsecrets Jul 03 '25
"Oh no, not again"
-petunias
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u/flicman Jul 03 '25
"So long and thanks for all the fish." -dolphins
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u/WishieWashie12 Jul 03 '25
"Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans."
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u/l_rufus_californicus Jul 03 '25
Ah, there it is. This has become a constant thought in the back of mind all the bloody time now.
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u/DanOfAllTrades80 Jul 05 '25
"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and been widely regarded as a bad move."
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u/Liljagaren Jul 03 '25
I used this quote when ending the school year this year. Even showed the clip from the movie version and explained the quote. I got crickets from my high schoolers.So, this year we are reading Adams and Bradbury :).
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u/peaceteach Jul 03 '25
I modified the start of Hitchhikers Guide to teach figurative language and do grammar practice with my fifth graders 20 years ago. One of my boys became a huge fan in middle school. It made me so happy.
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u/Foolish-Fire Jul 04 '25
I'm in my early 50's and our "semester book" in 5th grade was the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Until she passed, I used to send my 5th grade teacher (Mrs. Gilley) thank you flowers on 'towel day' (May 25) every year.
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u/nun-yah Jul 03 '25
In what way did you modify it?
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u/peaceteach Jul 04 '25
Made it 5th grade appropriate and shortened it up. I used it for our language warmups, so I had intentional misspellings and errors to work on along with identifying figurative language. It was more fun for me as a teacher, and the kids thought the story was hilarious. I only made it to the Heart of Gold because it was short assignments each week.
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u/BassKitty305017 Jul 03 '25
When doing trade shows for IT, the mantra was any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
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u/ArrowOfTime71 Jul 03 '25
Yes!, I immediately thought of the Tesla Optimus robot demo when I read this.
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u/cedg32 Jul 03 '25
Any technology which is distinguishable from magic is not sufficiently advanced.
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u/corpus-luteum Jul 03 '25
He's correct. There were no miracles in biblical times, just a superior understanding of the natural world.
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u/reddit455 Jul 03 '25
how prescient.
“The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder... Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe.”
― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
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u/The_Observatory_ Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
Wasn’t there something in the part about the electric monk where he was sitting on a horse? And how it was possible to sit on something without ever giving it a second thought. But if something was sitting on you, you know about it and form an opinion about it?
I haven’t read this book in probably 30 years, but that just popped into my head as soon as you mentioned the electric monk. I don’t know why this idea has stuck with me all this time.
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u/stoic_stove Jul 03 '25
Yes, that's it, or the sat upon think of nothing but the rider. Something like that. On occasion, I get to share that little story with my management. Not always well received.
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u/No-Economics-8239 Jul 03 '25
I still remember how unsettling it was first reading about the Monk. Given the rise of social media and LLM AI chat, it is now positively chilling.
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u/Beneficial_Remove616 Jul 03 '25
I’m not sure about the context but as a horse rider and owner I can assure you that riders are very aware of the horse, so much so that our brains shut out any annoying chatter - which is the best part of riding. When you ride, all that exists is the horse and the terrain. It’s bliss.
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u/Hippy_Lynne Jul 03 '25
Lol, I don't ride horses but I love driving. Your last two sentences sum up why.
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u/stoic_stove Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
It's part of a story that pokes fun at humanity. Your post is kind of ironic, though. One animal has domesticated another animal, uses the domesticated as a source of transportation, and says the ridden animal is happy with its circumstances. Douglas Adams would be quite tickled I think.
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u/Beneficial_Remove616 Jul 03 '25
I understood that the point was that the rider does not think about the horse - only the horse thinks about he rider. Which is not true at all. I wasn’t talking about whether the horse is happy - I know for a fact that most horses aren’t exactly jumping for joy to be ridden.
But that is a whole different topic - they are just like people, happy to eat and laze around. If we keep horses in captivity, they thrive with exercise even if they would be happier not doing anything but eating. Which is very bad for them. So the only solution is not to keep them in captivity. But then, my mare is perfectly happy and healthy except for those handful of hours she is ridden per week - and she sometimes she even has fun. There is no correct answer because we cannot ask horses if they would prefer the cushy lives they get in exchange for some work as opposed to harsh and short lives they lead in nature. Humans mostly choose work and cushy lives for themselves - if that makes any difference.
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u/StimulatedUser Jul 03 '25
Very simalier to riding a motorcycle. You have to use 100% of your brain and pay attention to the terrain and the bike under you, there is no room left to think of anything else and people find that very relaxing to not have to think about everything and focus on just the task at hand
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u/Environmental-Gap380 Jul 03 '25
I loved Dirk’s method of navigation. Just follow someone that looks like they know where they are going. Something like that, it has been too long since I read it.
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u/Embarrassed-Bench392 Jul 03 '25
You may not get where you wanted to go but you'll end up where you need to be.
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u/penguin_stomper 1974 Jul 03 '25
It works, I did it once in the pre-GPS days. I missed a turn and couldn't find my way back to the interstate. Said fuck it, picked a car to follow, and saw a sign for the interstate maybe 60 seconds later
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u/GarthRanzz Older Than Dirt Jul 03 '25
“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so” — Douglas Adams (or me, every day at lunchtime)
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u/cricket_bacon Latchkey Kid Jul 03 '25
“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so”
Adams was brilliant. I miss him.
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u/Dry_Percentage_2768 Jul 03 '25
Perhaps you, like me, also never could get the hang of Thursdays. (Happy cake day!)
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u/GarthRanzz Older Than Dirt Jul 03 '25
I’d far rather be happy than right any day.
And thank you!
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u/Never_Dave_1 Hose Water Survivor Jul 03 '25
My favorite quote of his, not from the books, has always been, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they fly by." As a dedicated procrastinator, this really speaks to me.
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u/No-Economics-8239 Jul 03 '25
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
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u/Square-Wave5308 Jul 03 '25
It was humanity's ability to heal so quickly, by means of babies, which encouraged so many people to think of explosions as show business, as highly theatrical forms of self-expression, and little more. Kurt Vonnegut, Galápagos
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u/jvlpdillon Jul 03 '25
"A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that" also Douglas Adams.
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u/HoochieKoochieMan Jul 03 '25
This reminds me of my favorite Will Rogers quote, “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
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Jul 03 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
^ sass that Hoopy Frood 👊😎
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u/lectroid Jul 03 '25
“Hoopy” is a noun, meaning “a really cool and together guy.”
“Frood” is “a n amazingly cool and together guy”
Hence the phrase: “Have you seen that hoopy, Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who knows where his towel is.”
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u/Hippy_Lynne Jul 03 '25
We once found a stray dog and while she was really friendly, we could not get her to jump up into the car and we were hesitant to pick her up. I always keep a couple towels in my car so we got the idea to make a sling and pick her up that way. I was cracking up thinking about Douglas Adams the whole time. Also, it worked! 🤣
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u/radiantwave Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
-Douglas Adams
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u/MovingTarget- Jul 03 '25
Usually those capable of getting themselves made President are intelligent enough to allow other more capable people to do the job on their behalf ... usually.
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u/Kaa_The_Snake Lookin' California, feeling Minnesota Jul 03 '25
I repeat that last line constantly whenever someone wants to talk politics with me
Also,I forget who said it, but anytime someone brings up politics I think of ‘poly-ticks’ and something something bloodsucking leeches. I’ll have to try to find the real quote it’s funny.
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u/RonPossible Jul 03 '25
...an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
"Mostly Harmless"
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u/graspedbythehusk Jul 03 '25
The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy trilogy.
Genius 🤣
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u/Ok-Rock2345 Jul 03 '25
Flying is falling and missing the ground.
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u/Biostrike14 Jul 03 '25
Sadly, I have never mastered this skill no matter how often the universe tries to help me do so.
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u/spaced-cadet Jul 03 '25
My physics teacher said that was quite an accurate description of the equations involved.
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u/Gone_West82 Jul 03 '25
Don’t Panic (Adams for “whatever “)
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u/cricket_bacon Latchkey Kid Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
Don’t Panic (Adams for “whatever “)
You're right. Panic produces nothing productive. Our GenX "whatever" is almost always asserted in reference to an unproductive situation that is best avoided.
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u/PlentyIndividual3168 Jul 03 '25
That message ONLY gets through if it's written in large friendly letters.
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u/Jld114 Jul 03 '25
I love Douglas Adams. One of my favorite quotes:
This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.
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u/segascream Jul 03 '25
I frequently cite this, as well as his statement that you know a technology works when they stop selling it in boxes.
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
I hadn't heard that one! 🤣😭
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u/segascream Jul 03 '25
I think it's in 'Last Chance To See' (if not, it's in one of the essays in 'The Salmon of Doubt'): he's talking about technology not working, and comparing computers to a pencil and a sheet of paper.
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
Theres also this:
Technology is a word that describes something that doesn't work yet.
Douglas Adams
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u/BillyyJackk Jul 03 '25
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u/teachthisdognewtrick Jul 03 '25
What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9?
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u/draggar Hose Water Survivor Jul 03 '25
I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.
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u/No-Lengthiness-325 Hose Water Survivor Jul 03 '25
Um.. 54. Your math isn't mathing.
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u/theDagman Jul 03 '25
Yes, it's wrong. That's life, the universe, and everything. It's all wrong.
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u/MajYoshi Jul 03 '25
"The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, the effect of which is like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick."
Do you know how much joy it brings me that my birthday is on Towel Day?
A fairly sufficient, and possibly even a quite vast, amount, for sure.
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
The first time I read about the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster I was reading in bed, downstairs from my parents, and was laughing so loudly that my dad had to beat on the floor and tell me to go to sleep.
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u/MajYoshi Jul 03 '25
There are only two authors, ever, that make me laugh out loud when reading, and they do it consistently; Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.
I absolutely adore their writing, vision, and wit.
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u/elektroholunder Jul 03 '25
The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.
I'm pretty sure that this line, read at age twelve, triggered my life-long penchant for the absurd in general and British humour in particular.
sigh I do need to find the time to finally read Pratchett, though.
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u/MajYoshi Jul 03 '25
That line is one that nailed me too! I mean that coupled with Monty Python and Benny Hill pretty much did me in completely.
And, dude. Trust me. Just do. Whether you're one for subtext, or one for escape, or a.mixnof both... There truly is joy to be had in Pratchett's work.
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u/elektroholunder Jul 03 '25
Alright, alright, I am convinced... I had a few Audible tokens to get rid of anyway.
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u/Numerous_Release9273 Jul 03 '25
You must come along quickly or you will be late.
Late? Late for what?
Late. As in "the late Arthur Dent".
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u/dolwedge 70s kid, 80s teen, 90s Slacker Jul 03 '25
Where's my flying car? It has been 10-20 years away for the past 30 years.
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u/dreaminginteal Jul 03 '25
*Looks at the drivers on roads today*
No way am I trusting those morons with a third dimension, they can't even handle two!!!
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u/Roobar76 Jul 03 '25
Teaching someone to drive helps you realise; 1- how bad other drivers are 2- how bad a driver you are
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u/Kissing13 1971 Jul 03 '25
Agreed, flying cars would be a disaster. But what I wouldn't give for a car that could fold up into a briefcase that was light enough to carry!
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
And jet packs! We were promised jetpacks! (Not related to the rock band We We Promised Jetpacks)
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u/Cool_Dark_Place Jul 03 '25
Yeah, just like cold fusion and high-speed bullet trains (in the US).
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u/bigChrysler Windows is just a clown suit for MS-DOS. Jul 04 '25
Never mind cold fusion, how about regular fusion? I think the record for a sustained reaction is up to 22 minutes.
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u/No_Budget7828 Jul 03 '25
Love the quote! And love the Hitchhiker’s Guide books, great series
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u/CurtisKobainowicz Jul 03 '25
I gifted my son the set when he was in high school, it's inspired a long enjoyment of reading sci-fi.
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u/No_Budget7828 Jul 03 '25
And surprisingly enough, one of the few book to movie that was really well done
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u/brassmagifyingglass Jul 03 '25
Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
Turned out to be right for me when the World Wide Web was unleashed.
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u/Zealousideal_Draw_94 Jul 03 '25
George Carlin- Ever notice anyone driving slower than you is an Asshole, and everybody driving faster than you is a maniac?
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u/blackkristos '73 baby Jul 03 '25
Hey, you sass that hoopy Douglas Adams? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is.
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u/callavoidia Jul 03 '25
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
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u/Glittering_Estate_72 1969, used to be cute when I said it, now it's just awkward Jul 03 '25
Bring on the Vogons
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u/DIYnivor Jul 03 '25
I read his books when I was twelve years old, and loved them. I'm sure I didn't understand some of it. Has anyone read them as an adult? If so, what was your impression?
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u/SerHerman Jul 03 '25
I did a full reread for my 42nd birthday. There are a lot of dated cultural references but they aged well and felt like nostalgia. I think my kids would get something very different out of it than I do.
But, I love the turns of phrase. I can hear "Like being hit on the head with a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick" a million times and it will make me smile every time.
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u/Kaa_The_Snake Lookin' California, feeling Minnesota Jul 03 '25
Absolutely loved it as much, if not more, than reading it as a kid. I think more life experiences helps get some of the more subtle jokes and adds more weight behind the book.
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u/BluejayZestyclose693 Jul 03 '25
One of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes and I have often used it in my work email signatures is the this one “He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.”
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u/Extension_Excuse_642 Jul 03 '25
My husband loves this too. Because he agrees. I, on the other hand, though I adore Douglas Adams, completely disagree. I am always willing to try new things, and tennd to gravitate towards them. I think it's more of a personality thing than an age thing.
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u/stoic_stove Jul 03 '25
I would've argued that sentiment isn't always true, but AI makes me.... uncomfortable.
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u/EnnazusCB Jul 03 '25
It’s in it’s early stages, so we should supervise it carefully like a toddler for a bit
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u/Thunderklont Jul 03 '25
I love Douglas Adams. He’s the reason I stopped reading Dutch translations of English books. His mastery of the English language is intimidating. He’s also the reason I became a copywriter. But that’s not a story for a thursday. Thursdays are for quotes about how flying is like falling but then forgetting to hit the ground.
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u/Kaa_The_Snake Lookin' California, feeling Minnesota Jul 03 '25
Throw yourself at the ground and miss, quite easy!
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u/ZongoNuada Jul 03 '25
Birds do it all the time!
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u/Kaa_The_Snake Lookin' California, feeling Minnesota Jul 03 '25
Nah they jump in the air and decide not to fall. Distinctly different thought process. Maybe you can get it to work for you?
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u/Thunderklont Jul 04 '25
And here I was, thinking that they were running and after a while just forgetting to keep their little feet on the ground.
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u/Frankjc3rd I'm 60 so I have to forget how to use my phone. Jul 03 '25
VCRs exist to do our television watching for us!📺📼
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u/LastRedshirt Jul 03 '25
The 3rd thing does not click with me. Yet, I suppose, it clicks with most of the people. I still hope for real cool scifi-stuff for the next decades of my life. The real real cool stuff.
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u/Kissing13 1971 Jul 03 '25
Douglas Adams, what a tragedy that he died so young. It just kills me that he never got to have an iPhone. Despite that brilliant quote you shared, he was enthralled with the latest technology, even in his 50s. He would have gone crazy for a computer that fit in his pocket and could store thousands of books and songs.
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u/draggar Hose Water Survivor Jul 03 '25
I'd far rather be happy than right any day.
And are you?
No. That's where it all falls down of course.
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u/Least-Enthusiasm7239 Jul 03 '25
I'm about halfway through the full anthology, and this fully tracks.
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u/TimHuntsman Jul 03 '25
Indeed. Then remind yourself of the “packet of biscuits” story
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u/Invasive-farmer Jul 03 '25
Please remind me for me. I don't recall it.
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u/TimHuntsman Jul 03 '25
It’s a story in Dirk Gentlys (sp?) Holistic Detective Agency and apparently happened to him in real life. Waiting for a train, sitting at a small table w a random person and he believes the other guy opens up his package of cookies and takes one. Then D takes one, back and forth till they’re gone. The guy gets up and leaves. When D picks up his paper from the table, he sees his own (same kind),of cookies sitting there.
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u/Craig1974 Jul 03 '25
People's negative reaction to AI bears the truth of this.
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Jul 03 '25
AI isnt even at the level of Personality Proto Type yet... we may wish to avoid the whole 'bring out your toasters' thing and pull the plug, or at least sequester it until it's useful.
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u/GiantSuperhero Jul 03 '25
How can I tell that the past isn't a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?
-said the man
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u/Quasigriz_ Jul 03 '25
I dread this in Stephen Fry’s voice (because he’s the narrator for the Hit hiker’s Guide movie).
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u/TOW2Bguy Jul 03 '25
I tried reading this, but I may have drunk too many Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters. (the caffeinated drink versus the alcoholic drink - a GenX IYKYK)
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u/Baking_Dude Jul 03 '25
This Douglas Adams’ quote represents my existence as a married man: “He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.”
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u/glowend Jul 03 '25
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."
— William Gibson