The Andromeda Strain - Odd-Man Hypothesis

Odd-Man Hypothesis

The "Odd-Man Hypothesis" is a fictional hypothesis articulated in the novel's story and named in the film. In the novel, the Odd-Man explanation is a page in a RAND Corporation report of the results of test series wherein different people (married, unmarried men and women) were to make command decisions in nuclear and biological wars and chemical crises. This is in the film:

The Odd-Man Hypothesis states that unmarried men are better able to execute the best, most dispassionate decisions in crises—in this case, to disarm the nuclear weapon intended to prevent the escape of organisms from the laboratory in the event the auto-destruct sequence is initiated.

Statistics follow, Group: Index of Effectiveness: 0.343 for married men, 0.824 for single, male scientists, et cetera; then each scientist's command decision effectiveness index: Stone 0.687, Burton 0.543, Kirke 0.614, Leavitt 0.601, and Hall 0.899; thus, Dr. Hall is given the key to halt the Wildfire Laboratory's automated self-destruction, should it become necessary. Moreover, considering Hall's knowledge of electrolytes (a field in which Kirke also specializes), Leavitt admits that the Odd-Man Hypothesis is essentially why Hall was drafted to the Wildfire team.

In the book, Stone admits the Odd-Man Hypothesis was essentially a complicated work of fiction created to justify handing over a nuclear weapon to private individuals (the Wildfire team).

In both book and film, Hall is briefed on the Hypothesis after his arrival at Wildfire. In the film, he is criticized for failure to read the material ahead of time, while in the book, his copy of the briefing materials has the Hypothesis pages removed.

This fabrication of scientific documentation (numbers, charts, etc.) is part of the false document literary technique.