You ask: what is the meaning or purpose of life? I can only answer with another question: do you think we are wise enough to read God's mind?

If we had a reliable way to label our toys good and bad, it would be easy to regulate technology wisely. But we can rarely see far enough ahead to know which road leads to damnation. Whoever concerns himself with big technology, either to push it forward or to stop it, is gambling in human lives.

Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences.

Exactly!" said Deep Thought. "So once you do know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means.

God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension.

Politically speaking, of course, they have to keep flying it a bit longer. Hopefully, it will close down before they crash it again.