The dynamics of the fictional universe’s viral system

A formula to describe the dynamics behind viral behavior in the Wild Cards series.

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Many science fiction authors use scientific principles in their work. Ian Tregillis, a physicist and contributing author of the Wild Cards book series, took it further by deriving a formula for the fictional universe’s viral system.

In a new study, Tregillis and George R.R. Martin developed a formula for viral behavior in the Wild Cards universe.

Wild Cards is a science fiction series about an alien virus that mutates human DNA, written by multiple authors and edited by Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass. The idea to explore the science behind the virus came from blog posts on the Wild Cards website.

Tregillis created a Lagrangian formula, a fundamental physics principle, to describe the virus’s dynamics. He and Martin turned the abstract problem into a concrete dynamical system, generating statistical outcomes.

A coordinate system for the polar model of the Wild Cards system
A coordinate system for the polar model of the Wild Cards system

They translated the abstract problem of Wild Card viral outcomes into a simple, concrete dynamical system. The time-averaged behavior of this system generates the statistical distribution of outcomes,” he said.

While the Wild Card virus can be modeled by physics, Tregillis emphasized that it isn’t a hard-and-fast rule in the canon.

While the model is based on physics, Tregillis emphasized that it’s not a strict rule in the story. Good storytelling focuses on characters and their interactions, with the virus justifying the world of Wild Cards and its plot lines.

Journal Reference:

  1. I. L. Tregillis ; George R. R. Martin. Ergodic Lagrangian dynamics in a superhero universe. American Journal of Physics. DOI: 10.1119/5.0228859
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