The Infinite Improbability Drive was a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in less than a second, without "tedious mucking about in hyperspace." It was installed on the Starship Heart of Gold, and both the ship and the drive were unveiled by the President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox. Side effects of using the Infinite Improbability Drive include temporary (and sometimes permanent), changes to the environment and morphological structure, hallucinations, and the calling into being of large marine mammals. The starship Heart of Gold was the first spacecraft to make use of the Infinite Improbability Drive. Later, during the use of the Infinite Improbability Drive, the ship picked up Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, who were floating unprotected in deep space in the same star sector, having just escaped the destruction of the same planet.
Marvin is an Artificial Intelligence program with a Real People Personality program. Such ideas of incorporating emotions into AI have been explored in real life, although it has been concluded that “If emotions such as anxiety, fear, and stress are incorporated into intelligent systems which deal with complex, critical tasks…the result could be disastrous”[2]. In the movie, Marvin often is impeded by his brooding, leading to him being less helpful, such as when Arthur is left behind after the portal stops working and Marvin can only offer a forecast of misery. In this way, striving to be more technologically advanced ends up being counterproductive, and the level of happiness gained from Marvin is not too substantial. Marvin himself is miserable despite his intelligence.
Deep thought is a highly advanced AI created with the expressed purpose of deciding what the meaning of life is. However, the answer it gave, 42, was only based on a straightforward, mathematical calculation. The supercomputer was unable to answer such a philosophical problem, and needed to first figure out the question to ask. Even this plan to figure out the question was foiled with Earth was destroyed. The Magratheans relied too heavily on technology to give an answer that could not be given. It was only up to them to be able to come up with an answer.
“A computer of such infinite and subtle complexity that organic life itself shall form part of its operational matrix.”
—Deep Thought on the Earth.
While not much detail is given in the movie about the Earth as a computer, it set out to calculate the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Designed by Deep Thought and built by the Magratheans, it was commonly mistaken for a planet, especially by the ape descendants who lived on it. Unfortunately, the Earth was destroyed by the Vogons five minutes before the program was to be completed.