Game of Thrones Author Co-Writes Physics Paper on Superhero Virus 21
Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist Ian Tregillis and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin have published a physics paper deriving a mathematical model for the Wild Cards virus, a fictional pathogen that kills 90% of those infected while granting survivors either mutations ("Jokers") or superpowers ("Aces").
Published in the American Journal of Physics (February 2025), their paper develops a Lagrangian formulation to explain how the virus maintains its consistent "90:9:1" statistical distribution. The model accounts for both observable cases and hypothetical "crypto" carriers with undetectable effects.
The authors propose treating viral outcomes as a dynamical system, using concepts from ergodic theory and classical mechanics. The resulting model combines Lagrangian mechanics, functional analysis, and probability theory to distill the complex viral behavior into a single mathematical expression.
Published in the American Journal of Physics (February 2025), their paper develops a Lagrangian formulation to explain how the virus maintains its consistent "90:9:1" statistical distribution. The model accounts for both observable cases and hypothetical "crypto" carriers with undetectable effects.
The authors propose treating viral outcomes as a dynamical system, using concepts from ergodic theory and classical mechanics. The resulting model combines Lagrangian mechanics, functional analysis, and probability theory to distill the complex viral behavior into a single mathematical expression.
Never (Score:5, Insightful)
Those books never getting finished
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"Wild Cards" is actually an ongoing series of stories where the premise was created by Martin, but the stories themselves are written by other authors - the "Wild Cards Consortium". I think Martin is gatekeeper for who can be a member of the consortium.
A lot of the stories are quite good.
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I enjoyed (most of) them. I picked up a set of them last year -It had been over 20 years since I had originally read them.. Still fun.
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Those books never getting finished
George keeps himself pretty busy rolling in large, fat stacks of cash from the show that pretty much ruined the promise of the books. And, as someone who has done his share of writing, if I watched one of my babies get run through the ringer like that by someone else, I'd probably turn my attentions elsewhere as well. It's not like he's not writing other properties at any given moment. Or consulting on the never-ending stream of other things going on around Song of Ice & Fire.
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And, as someone who has done his share of writing, if I watched one of my babies get run through the ringer like that by someone else, I'd probably turn my attentions elsewhere as well.
Wouldn't it have been great if HBO had the self-restraint to just... pause when they reached the end of what was written instead of churning out.... that ending? I would have preferred no ending: just leave the community speculating for all time. It could have been living rent free in our heads for an age, or at least until George actually finished it. Alas.
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And, as someone who has done his share of writing, if I watched one of my babies get run through the ringer like that by someone else, I'd probably turn my attentions elsewhere as well.
Wouldn't it have been great if HBO had the self-restraint to just... pause when they reached the end of what was written instead of churning out.... that ending? I would have preferred no ending: just leave the community speculating for all time. It could have been living rent free in our heads for an age, or at least until George actually finished it. Alas.
It's too bad that will be the lasting legacy of the entire property, that's for certain.
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I'm pretty sure all the actors were sick of it.
But leaving it open ended would be fine.
Just have it end when Jon Snow is given plot armor, it pretty much changed the edge of your seat nature of the show at that point anyway.
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Can't say I blame him, but he's clearly just taking the piss out of his fans at th
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both ideally before he croaks so we don't get another Dune/Wheel of Time
Sanderson tied up the series better than Jordan could have.
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Now the series has gained worldwide fame you are pissed that he's not the exclusive property of nerds like you who lurk in their mother's basement. If he did write more work you would condemn it and say it sucked and was bad compared to the older stuff. He knows he's under the spotlight and the pressure is so massi
Getting closer, back to lab... (Score:2)
If Ian figures out how to raise dragons who can eat certain politicians and moguls, he gets 10 Nobel prizes.
Physics? (Score:5, Insightful)
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This is The American Journal of Physics (formerly The American Physics Teacher) we're talking about. It's an undergraduate level journal with an impact factor of 0.8. Pretty harmless way to spend one's spare time.
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Winter is coming.... (Score:2)
...any day now, you guys. Seriously. Just you wait.
These books are never getting finished.
This is a very old story (Score:2)
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In the Wild Cards universe, the initial virus release happened right after World War II. Some of the stories are set back then, but others occur in more recent decades.
When will it be a mini-series? (Score:2)