They're standing so close to the chalkboard they had to move the writing around their heads
Lmao I didn't even notice that. I suppose that's just good design, if it looked natural at a glance.
What they see:
Hrm, they seem off by a little, maybe... 42 units?
That is in addition to life & everything.
Given universe is 0, then life and everything will be 42 but it's also possible that the unspecified operator between universe and the rest (life and everything) is dependent on parts of the universe equation and might be something else
I don't get it (the joke and the purpose of the universe)
It all equals zero. There is no purpose or meaning. Optimistic take: because that's not what math does. Pessimistic take: because there is none.
Note that an absurdist or existentialist who likes not having to perform to a divine meaning may prefer this state of affairs to being told what to do. The author is making humour out of scientists gleefully proving nothing matters. But I think glee at nothing mattering should be the normal reaction. Unfortunately, it seems most neurotypicals would rather be told what to do.
Optimist take: Because there is none! (whoo)
Optimistic take: because they just rearranged it to equal 0 by subtracting something from both sides as is often done in "these quantities are conserved" types of equations in physics!
So we still don't know the true purpose...
I took it to be contrasting the "thrill of discovery" with doing math that would be boring and tedious to most people.
Damn, what would you even do with that information if you figured it out at 10:05am on a workday?
Yes?
Laws of thermodynamics ensure that it's a zero sum game at best.
Is this what's meant by the null hypothesis?
Zoom in on that zero, boys! Show us those vacuum quantum fluctuations!
My favorite is when they discovered the universe has zero energy curvature which means nothing goes in and nothing comes out. Somehow it made more sense that zero could split into thing and antithing and we don't even question it anymore.
