Basically, fed up with lifes little niggling problems, like death and the afterlife and why everything is a bit tedious, a race of pan dimensional beings want to design a supercomputer to come up with the Ultimate answer - to life, the universe, and everything.

The designers get to work immediatly, and design a massive Artificial sentient super brain called Deep Thought

2 philosphers called Vroomfondle & Magikthise storm in from The Union of Philosophers and say something a bit like;

"Oi! You can't make a computer that just answers everything! We'll be out of a job"

Deep Thought tells the surrounding argument that he would solve such a vast problem, and will take billions years to make & run the program to it's conclusion.

And, as the philosophers kick up a stink...Deep Thought interjects, and advises wisely.

This respected guild of philosophers should not need to fret and worry over their livelyhoods, because while the Aeons of computation is slowly passing, there will be plenty of time for philosophers to make quite a bit of money & fame, wealth, and noteriety, enabling generations of the Guild to cut a deep furrow of continued respectability out of simply wondering what the final answer might possibly be...

Oooh think of the talk shows!

ooooh the book & movie deals!

The Guild representatives salivate at the propect of a new industry at hand. They walk away satisfied -

When, after seven and a half million years of calculation, the answer finally turns out to be 42, Deep Thought admonishes Loonquawl and Phouchg - the receivers of the Ultimate Answer, that he, Deep Thought "checked very thoroughly", and that "quite definitely is the answer."

"I think the problem," Deep Thought advises - "to be quite honest with you is that you've never actually known what the question was."

Deep Thought eventually makes the Supercomputer that will find the QUESTION TO THE ANSWER 42 - it is a computer so powerful that life itself forms the central matrix of its programming. It was to be called Deep Thought II.

I shan't go on - you need to read it to find out the rest.

Shallow Hal

The philosophers guild could be seen as a metaphor for the industry of political thought. The Deep Politics of deep politics. The mystery machine. Conspiracy Culture.

And 'Deep Thought' - the super computer coming up with all the answers, supplying the Guild with enough time, space & material to be a profitable exercise...could be seen as the Global Intelligence community...I will call them, in this capacity, Shallow Hal.

HAL, being a movie reference to the ever psychotic AI computer in Kubriks 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Guilds, Fraternity, & Theology, & cults often prey on vulnerable, gullible, fearful people, who cannot think for themselves but like being told they are clever if they sign up to the 'cause'...layers of truth are presented with higher fees charged for more knowledge hoped to discover. This is how both Scientology...& The Rosicrucians function.