Zombie Apocalypse Reality?

[noseoil]

I'm still more concerned with the power grid going down for a week or so. That would be a true disaster with all of the above happening. Think of all the teens without the use of cell phones, now that's frightening! Just keep stocking up on essentials & hope things hold together in society.

[TheRaven]

The northeast had a lot of snow and freezing weather this winter. If there were zombies walking around, I wonder how they would have faired?? Any doctors in the house??? I'd think the cold weather would cause dead zombie flesh to break down rather quickly? Maybe 50-90% of the zombie population wiped out in one winter?

[Monocrom]

Zombies don't feel cold or heat.

[opusxpn]

Almost everyone in Texas owns and knows how to shoot a gun/rifle/shotgun. we don't have freaks trying to ban 2"+ folders, you can walk down the street and pull out an endura or a 4" blade with no problems (although some cities have some weird ordinances that not a lot of people know about) . We are a very weapon friendly state and hunting is pretty big were I am at.

[Jeremy_A_Neel]

Yeah, eastern WA is pretty much gun-totin' redneck land, but I live in western WA, and yeah, zombies would eat this place up.

[Mike Blue]

Human beings are warm blooded for a good reason. Our internal metabolism requires some heat to operate at increased efficiency and protect us from the overgrowth of bacteria. It allows us to operate in a wider range of ambient temperatures. It keeps us from freezing when it's too cold and burns off, or helps, fight off bacterial invaders that have not adapted a commensal relationship with our systems. We are like the radiators in a car, we work better when we are full of water.

There are multiple websites, given a pinch of humor, that effectively describe all the reasons that a zombie event would not last long. The only dead things bacteria and fungi will not eat are McDonalds cheeseburgers (seriously, look up the sixteen year old cheeseburger). Zombies are nothing more than dinner to microscopic critters and if the infectious disease cause of zombie hood is operational, the brain won't last long when other bacteria take the body apart. The rabies-or like brain infections will eventually destroy the central nervous system, so the idea of zombies being able to think or organize has a finite time limit.

Not to mention the other larger or smaller predators zombies used to be able to run from or fight off. Think dogs and rats who no longer have populated areas where humans provide them food. Without being able to generate heat to run, they are easy to catch and/or will freeze solid. Without water, never seen a zombie movie where they stopped to drink or pee, they will dehydrate then desiccate.

All you have to do is be ready to move outside the Cinderella zone where zombies can't operate...or you are up against Hollywood imaginatorium conditions where the normal laws of biology do not operate.

[Monocrom]

Many believe that if you can avoid the zombies for 5 years, they'll have mostly rotted away to the point of no longer being a threat. Though that doesn't take into account the stupid notion that everyone still alive is infected and will thus turn into an undead corpse after death.

[Jeremy_A_Neel]

Ever since I saw a documentary on cordyceps fungus in 2005 or so, I wondered what would happen if a strain of that could affect humans. Then The Last of Us came out, and that's exactly the premise of the game. Not the traditional zombie; much more terrifying.

[Evil D]

The dying cells and bacteria things are interesting, but are probably ways of trying to add logic to something that already defies logic anyway. We're talking about a virus that reanimates dead cells and dead bodies, so until you get to the point that the cells have literally rotted away to nothing, this isn't really a valid argument since even dead tissue still has cells, so until those cells have decayed away and don't exist anymore then bacteria can't stop a zombie, at least not for a loooong time and by then society could be overrun. At some point an outbreak like this would have to peak and eventually come to an end, since eventually all brain tissue would rot away, but we're talking about a long time, at least plenty of time to spread and consume a huge part of the population. Once the virus has reanimated these dead cells, they no longer require nourishment of any kind, no food or water or even oxygen to survive, which again totally defies logic.

The problem I've always had with zombie outbreak is in the numbers. There's just no realistic way something like this could really end mankind unless it spread through the air, because healthy people would almost always outnumber the zombies, so a naturally formed militia would happen and though millions could die, there are well over 300 million people just in the United States, so even if millions were effected, as long as the rest rise up and defend themselves, and assuming the virus isn't airborne, then it would end without a total loss of life.

So, until there's some crazy virus that can bring dead cells back to life and keep them alive without nourishment, any apocalypse is going to be of the "rabies" type and not of the dead coming back to life type. This really goes against all zombie lore though, since then one of the infected could simply starve to death or even bleed to death if you managed to wound them bad enough, so the whole "shoot them in the head" thing goes out the window in real life.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

So, until there's some crazy virus that can bring dead cells back to life and keep them alive without nourishment, any apocalypse is going to be of the "rabies" type and not of the dead coming back to life type. This really goes against all zombie lore though, since then one of the infected could simply starve to death or even bleed to death if you managed to wound them bad enough, so the whole "shoot them in the head" thing goes out the window in real life.

And this is where nanotechnology comes in. This is a scary thought, and I do not like it, because I am a big fan of and proponent of molecular engineering, for improving life for humans. But, imagine an ENGINEERED nano-virus that is able to do exactly what you mentioned, EvilD........it infects the brain of the victim...and (without the need for anything supernatural) keeps their body going..and infecting others, attacking others. It would have to be an engineered weapon of some kind.

Wouldn't it be sad and tragic if sometime after we all can have nano-replicators to make unlimited cheap pizzas and atomic-precision diamond bladed Spyderco Knives....some lamer were to release this on the human race?

The positive side: If it is created by people, it can also be defeated by people. Counter nanodevices could be made to reverse the effects.

[phillipsted]

I'm glad April 01 only comes once a year.

TedP

[Monocrom]

The positive side: If it is created by people, it can also be defeated by people. Counter nanodevices could be made to reverse the effects.

A better idea would be to just leave certain things alone, in the first place.