The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

What Hacker News says

1. josh_fyiAug 2020
   Can't help but think of Douglas Adams' masterpiece "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe": "A dreadful silence fell across the conference table as the commander of the Vl'hurgs, resplendent in his black jewelled battle shorts, gazed levelly at the G'Gugvuntt leader squatting opposite him in a cloud of green sweet-smelling steam"
   thread
2. ekovarskiAug 2018
   Do you mean this quote?

   "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 summarise: 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 summarise the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

   To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem."

   Douglas Adams, The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe

   Show morethread
3. smickieJan 2013
   Since we're doing great opening lines I'm going to throw two odd ones into the mix (which are still great!):

   "In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe'

   and...

   "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four Privet Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." - Harry Potter (right below the opening chapter name called "The Boy Who Lived")

   So humble and small compared to the journey you're about to go on.

   Show morethread
4. noir_lordSep 2026
   > To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must 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 - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe)

   Growing up on a diet of HHGTTG and Discworld just made me intrinsically distrust power in all it's forms.

   Show morethread
5. philipsMay 2026
   I think this is the same ethical questions of veganism and our use/abuse of biological systems. This is an excerpt from "The Pig that Wants to be Eaten" by Julian Baggini

   > After forty years of vegetarianism, Max Berger was about to sit down to a feast of pork sausages, crispy bacon and pan-fried chicken breast. Max had always missed the taste of meat, but his principles were stronger than his culinary cravings. But now he was able to eat meat with a clear conscience.

   > The sausages and bacon had come from a pig called Priscilla he had met the week before. The pig had been genetically engineered to be able to speak and, more importantly, to want to be eaten. Ending up on a human’s table was Priscilla’s lifetime ambition and she woke up on the day of her slaughter with a keen sense of anticipation. She had told all this to Max just before rushing off to the comfortable and humane slaughterhouse. Having heard her story, Max thought it would be disrespectful not to eat her.

   > The chicken had come from a genetically modified bird which had been ‘decerebrated’. In other words, it lived the life of a vegetable, with no awareness of self, environment, pain or pleasure. Killing it was therefore no more barbarous than uprooting a carrot.

   > Yet as the plate was placed before him, Max felt a twinge of nausea. Was this just a reflex reaction, caused by a lifetime of vegetarianism? Or was it the physical sign of a justifiable psychic distress? Collecting himself, he picked up his knife and fork . . .

   > Source: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams (Pan Books, 1980)

   Show morethread
6. dasyatidprimeMay 2026
   What is the source line at the end representing there? I've read The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and while it definitely contains (and I see it as a major cultural anchor for) animals bred to desire being eaten and be able to say so, it doesn't contain that particular scene (at least in the version I read). Is that line Baggini noting that his scene was inspired by the Adams book?
   thread