Using innovative software, a team of researchers from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (Switzerland) has discovered an unusual vision within the universe of Star Wars or Star Wars, the epic space opera franchise, created by the screenwriter and American director George Lucas and who has had millions of fans around the world since the saga began in 1977.
Thanks to the new algorithm -developed in the Signal Processing Laboratory 2 (LTS2) – that takes advantage of the principles of graph theory and mathematical calculations carried out by a computer, the experts put the software to the test with hundreds of websites in the network dedicated exclusively to the successful saga that has transcended the big screen (books, games, etc …).
The results have revealed interesting facts: Star Wars integrates more than 20,000 characters distributed among 640 communities over a period of 36,000 years : “The fans will be surprised to know, for example, that we have more than 20,000 characters; among them, 7,500 play an important role ”, explains Kirell Benzi, leader of the work.
In addition, the eternal rivalry of the Sith and Jedi also offers its statistics: there are 1,367 Jedi and 724 Sith . Despite the multitude of races and species that coexist in the galaxy such as the Nautolan or the Toydarians (before the Republic, in the Old Republic, during the Empire, the rebellion, the New Republic or the Jedi Order), almost 80% of the population is human.
“ To put some order in this massive forest of data, we have based our approach on network analysis. In other words, all the connections a character has with the rest of them. Using these cross-references, we have been able to accurately determine the character’s time period almost without exception , despite the fact that this information is not provided directly in the books or movies, ”says Xavier Bresson, co-author of the study.
The achievement of this computer program is that it draws connections in the mass of unorganized data available on the Internet and the algorithms developed by the LTS2 researchers provide highly accurate data that can be quantified, ordered and, of course, easy to read.
According to experts, “this method could be useful to fill the knowledge gaps that remain in historical and sociological research and in numerous scientific fields as well.”
