Chapter 3 Summary

In chapter 3 Arthur, Ford, Zaphod and Trillian are all on the same spaceship. The first conflict they have is between Ford and Zaphod because they are discussing whether or not the planet Magrathea exists are not. Zaphod believes that they are flying towards the planet and are going to try to land on it, where as Ford says the planet is only a myth. The discussions between them two leads to a bigger problem which is facing the spaceship when they are getting closer to the "dead" planet. A voice is speaking to the spaceship, saying that if they land on the planet their spaceship will be bombarded with nuclear weapons. However, the crew of the spaceship decided to ignore this threat and after all they land safely on the planet. The crew, including Marvin the depressed Robot and the board computer leave the spaceship to enter the inside of the planet. However, Zaphod, Ford and Trillian disappear (?) leaving Marvin and Arthur alone. Meanwhile, Arthur meats someone named Slartibartfast, who tells him that the planet was asleep for about five million years due to a Galactic economy collapse. Together, the enter the inside of the planet where Slarti will show him around. Arthur finds out that Magrathea is in charge of constructing new planets, and since Earth was destroyed they will be trying to remake it according to the blueprints of earth. The chapter ends with Arthur still being alone and the other three are still gone.

The Hitchhiker's (Chapter 1 & 2)

Summary of chapter 1 and 2:


Chapter 1
In the first chapter, the main characters Arthur and Ford are introduced. At the beginning Arthur is characterized as more of a hectic person and tries to offend people fast with his irony and sarcasm. Arthur is mad at the government of his town, because they never mentioned anything about his house being torn down due to that a bypass is being built. However, Arthur does not want his house to be turn apart, and is trying to stop the bulldozers with all his force. On the other hand, Ford is a more relaxed person and takes things serious without showing it to others. In the first few pages, Ford has to talk Arthur on an important case, and finally convinces Arthur to go with him to a close by pub. In the pub Ford tells Arthur that the world is going to end and that he is actually not from the world but a small planet names Betelgeuse.
After Arthur and Ford drink up their beer, they see a flying saucer and an Alien speaks to the crowd, telling them that the world has ended. However, Arthur and Ford get saved and wake up in the flying saucer. Until the end of the chapter Arthur and Ford talk together about how their life has changed and how it is going to continue. The chapter ends, with Ford saying that the alien captain might kick them out of the saucer, meaning they would die. However, things could get worse if the captain first reads them some poetry and then kills them.

Chapter 2
Chapter two starts with Arthur and Ford trying to convince the Vogon (alien) that his poem was good and that they really liked it. However, nothing convinces the captain and the Vogon Guard takes them to the exit where they will be kicked out of the saucer. However, Arthur and Ford do not die, because a different alien saucer saves them and takes them aboard. In the new saucer, Ford and Arthur meat a boring robot named Marvin and also Zaphod and Trillian. They find out that Ford already knows Zaphod, from the time he saved him when Zaphod's planet blew up. Eventually, Arthur recognizes Zaphod too, from a party on earth. At this party Arthur met a girl and Zaphod decided to just take her away by saying " I'm from a different planet" (49). Suddenly the doors open and a woman walks in, Trillian, also known as Tricia McMillan. She is the girl that Arthur really liked and Zaphod took her away. Trillian also hitchhiked and Zaphod took her on his saucer.

6 words

Irony: pg 19

Sarcasm: pg. 38

Understatement: pg. 28

Pun: pg. 29

Comparison: pg. 39

Wit: pg. 39


(highlighted in book)

Summary of: "How it all Ends"

NOTES on How It All Ends

• Global Climate Destabilization
• Global warming IS NOT a scientific term, it is a term that was created by institutions for whom the prospect of radical climate change is an inconvenience.
• Climate change is nothing real
• There is always a chance of being wrong
  Action vs. Inaction
  Harm to the economic and destruction and upheaval (everything has changed
• Inaction and action both take a risk, but you have to decide which one is better to take
• No action and global warming is true then:
  o Environmental
  o Political
  o Social
  o Public Health
  o Economic
• Action, but still global warming
  o It evens out
• No Global warming, no action
  o Everything okay
• Humans will have to go into one of those categories
• Science is never certain
• You don’t know if global warming
• It allows to make a decision using uncertain knowledge, by changing the question from are humans effecting the climate to the real question what is the wisest thing to do, given the uncertainties and the risks.
  o Risk management
• We are trying to find the best road to take
• How do you ever know when science is right?
  o Scientist vs. the big cooperation
  o Because a cooperation would never want to put their name on something that kills
  o They have huge reputation, don’t want to say something that will make them look foolish
• The two most known scientific research organizations are:
  o America Assoc. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  o National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
• They said that we should take action
  o Royal Society (RS)
  o United Nation (UN)
• It is more likely that there is global warming
• One should talk about it so that there will be change
• One of the biggest threats that humans every had
• We wouldn’t worry about these things if we had global warming
  o Whales
  o Children
  o Rainforests
  o Air pollution
  o Water pollution
  o Light pollution
  o Toxic wave
  o Nuclear waste
• Global warming is the wrong word but global climate change is a better word
  
  

We are having a dramatic impact on our world. How?

The question to ask in this case is, are we actually changing our world. Of course if you look at the environmental aspect of it, most people say that we are harming our future. However, if we go more on the economic side, there are discussions about the money we spend, but actually I think it is just the greed of humans.

The Environment:

As you and I might have noticed people keep talking about global warming. What is global warming? Global warming is actually debated, but what we know for sure is that climate destabilization is happening. This means that the temperature is changing. But is it really us who are impacting this? I think that it could be partly the 21st century, but we shouldn’t forget the past like the 20th century. Today, we use cars and fly around the world in a day, which wasn’t the case 50 or more years ago. For sure our fast transportation from one place to another has caused pollution which ended up harming our planet. However, many years ago nuclear weapons were tested, not knowing what the hell they actually do to our planet. This example shows that the non-existing pre-knowledge of the past has contributed to the environment which is today. So if we look at the aspect environment, I think that it is the people of today that are harming our planet but also the past. The only difference is that today, we know that we are harming our future so we are trying to find solutions to make it a better world.

The Economics:

Coercion is a technique which isn’t just used by the CIA, malls, casinos or some car dealer. It is around us 24/7 and most of the time we actually get tricked by it. For example right now my phone is next to me, but it has a huge scratch, so I kind of want a new one. The fact is that I am really tempted to get a new phone, because the people around me have the new iPhone or the blackberry or some new technology. The truth is probably I don’t even need a new phone, but I am getting put under pressure to get a new one, this is similar to coercion. However, not only that, but at the moment the world is having a financial crisis, most Dads are in front of the TV with bags under their eyes. This is because the car industries and banks are going “down”, so probably right now thousands of customers are trying to be coerced to buy a car, even though they know that the finances aren’t so good right now and that their wife would kill them. The reason why the car industries like Ford are trying to sell their cars is because they are in deep trouble and on the edge of shutting down. Due to their own greed, they are trying to make other people buy their cars so that they are standing a better chance. = Greed

In conclusion, I think that most of the events that are negatively influencing our world or our future are done or made by humans, due to their personal greed.