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Marvel Universe Is Almost Like *Real Life* Society

Posted by Hemos on from the scary-as-heck dept.

TheMatt writes "Scientists at the University of the Balearic Isles have analyzed the Marvel Universe and found that it is almost like real society. The team studied the statistical properties of each character, the books they were in, and who else appeared in them (through resources like the MCP). While there were some similarities to real society, a close look revealed the artificiality. For example, the MU isn't very clustered, only 1.5x that of a random network; real life is about 10x more clustered. Of course, the realities of comics (the business) are why this occurs. Also, they found the most networked of all Marvel heroes was Steve Rogers, Captain America himself."

8 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Whewww!! by Art_XIV · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now this is the kind of science that I can enjoy, especially after Book Reviews: The Skeptical Environmentalist

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    The only thing that we learn from history is that nobody learns anything from history.
  2. Quote from the article by PCM2 · · Score: 4, Funny
    "It seems," say the researchers, "that Marvel writers did not assign characters to books in the same way as natural interactions would have done it."
    Sounds like we can say the same thing of university degrees in Spain.
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    Breakfast served all day!
  3. Not a good thing by fritter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Also, they found the most networked of all Marvel heroes was Steve Rogers, Captain America himself.
    Unfortunately, this research was responsible for the incredibly boring "Apocalypse Protection" series, when Captain America just tried to sell insurance to other superheroes for like 10 straight issues.

  4. Damn them by Sri+Lumpa · · Score: 5, Funny

    All I see is that some bastards are paid to read tons of comics and do resume about them, which, to be scrupulously accurate, needs to be cross-checkes... by reading the comics again.



    Bastards

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    "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
  5. another key difference by L-Train8 · · Score: 5, Funny

    A closer look reveals the Marvel Universe's artificiality. For example, social networks have a property called clustering... the Marvel network is only very weakly clustered - about 1.5 times more than a random network.

    Another example of the artificiality of the Marvel Universe is that there are a bunch of people with super powers in it, where as in reality, there are realitively few people who can shoot lasers out of there eyes or turn into a gigantic green monster when they are angry.

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  6. Slashdot presents.. Future news by British · · Score: 5, Funny

    Future news:

    Scientists at the University of the Balearic lose funding altogether

  7. A more worthwhile study by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 3, Funny

    TheMatt writes "Scientists at the University of this place you've never heard of have analyzed Slashdot and found that it is almost like real society. The team studied the statistical properties of each user, the stories they posted in, and who else replied to their posts (through resources like the Slashdot archives). While there were some similarities to real society, a close look revealed the artificiality. For example, /. isn't very clustered, only 1.5x that of a random network; real life is about 10x more clustered. Of course, the realities of web boards (the interface) are why this occurs. Also, they found the most networked of all Slashdot users was CowboyNeal, the default poll choice."

    --
    main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
  8. Re:OMFG by CleverNickName · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm wondering just how much exactly they spent on this study...

    Please, please, please tell me that money was diverted from an athletic program to fund this research.

    Poetic justice man.

    Poetic justice.