The universe and everything

At this moment I seem to be encountering  people who "Know all the answers",  perhaps including  "life, universe, everything", as it is put in "The Hitchiker's Guide to the universe"). If treated carefully, this quote can be helpful: we toy with the idea of investigating beyond our galaxy to the many other galaxies - or even other universes. The latter seems, at first glance, impossible to observe: but if we could somehow understand the "flaring forth" that initiated our own universe, we might at least get some inkling of other ones.