Your vision of the Zombie Apocalypse...!

BeerWolf

Alright, silly little topic.

What kind of method of zombies would you be 'expecting' to see?

That is to say, the means of them showing up.

I've added a poll - if you've selected "Other", state why!

ScumLord

The only realistic possibilities are some kind of virus, parasite or bacteria, or a combination of those things.

degrassinoel

option 2 for me too

ScumLord

I've thought about whether it could be caused by a combination of virus and bacteria, a parasite could excrete powerful drugs and carry a bacteria.

The only problem I would see is that you could end up with two types of infected. If someone got the virus part but not the bacteria part they could just get infected and die but only turn into zombies when there's a combination of the two.

How I could see that working is the virus infects most people through the air and they would die but only people bitten (so the bacteria could pass too) would turn into zombies, the walking dead.

EvenOlderTom

Viral - ebola+rabies and we're fecked.

Cork boy 55

The "classic zombie" is 100% impossible, not even theoretical possible IMO
By "classic Zombie" I mean the shuffling reanimated dead human which organs are not working and can only be killed by massive brain trauma The one described By the George Romero classics, Max Brooks works or the walking dead and numerous others.
The one infected by the Solanum virus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Romero
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Brooks
Why is it impossible? because the Human eyes and muscle and brain require to work a constant flow of nutrient oxygen rich blood in order to function.
If body is not functioning these organs and muscles cannot just work in isolation.
In addition to these issues, the fictional portrayal of zombie infection flies in the face of actual biology. The human body infected by zombie infection is portrayed as able to survive infection indefinitely, and go without eating for years. Cellular biology does not work this way. An infectious agent responsible for this degree of human inattention to actual physical needs would cause death quickly. In essence, the zombie infection is imagined as something that conveys immortality. This is simply not a realistic concept.

However what is theoretical possible is a biological or chemical weapon agent
which could induce zombie like symptoms in the target population
I.e. Psychotic murderous cannibalistic suicidal extreme attendances
sends people exposed to it into a homicidal frenzy.
I would imagine infected people would have a very short lifespan due to death and sickness from numerous causes also there would be nothing to stop them targeting other infected.
Such a agent may have already been developed or something like it
Would love to hear experts(bio-chem weapons developers) opinion on it

In future with increasing technological and new technologies the risk of such an outbreak or deployment could grow.

ScumLord

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Why is it impossible? because the Human eyes and muscle and brain require to work a constant flow of nutrient oxygen rich blood in order to function.

The mammalian design is a power hog, we run at a high metabolism and need lots of food to keep up our fast pace. But, a zombie isn't operating at that kind of speed, it's slowed down and reduced functions won't need any where near as much energy to run. Simply by shutting down the higher functions of the human brain you're making a massive energy saving. If the disease can secure the nervous system to allow communication the muscles themselves carry their own internal power source that we already use in times of starvation. A zombie would essentially be a hijacked system, it doesn't need to function at the level of a living human and it can't.

If body is not functioning these organs and muscles cannot just work in isolation.

They can function in isolation, we can make muscles fire involuntary with electrodes. It is possible.

In addition to these issues, the fictional portrayal of zombie infection flies in the face of actual biology. The human body infected by zombie infection is portrayed as able to survive infection indefinitely, and go without eating for years.

Most fictional portrayals of zombies are whatevers popular at the time, there's also the point that it wouldn't technically be an infection after death, there is no fight left in the body and it's completely at the mercy of the disease.

Cellular biology does not work this way. An infectious agent responsible for this degree of human inattention to actual physical needs would cause death quickly. In essence, the zombie infection is imagined as something that conveys immortality. This is simply not a realistic concept.

It's not no, most discussions in here agree zombies have a shelf life. Even if the disease could technically keep them alive forever they would be disintegrate through weathering as they can't grow new tissues.

However what is theoretical possible is a biological or chemical weapon agent

A biological agent is basically back to viruses and bacteria, a chemical agent wouldn't be apocalyptic as it would have a limited range and the victims of the attack wouldn't go on to infect others giving us the chain reaction.

Cork boy 55

The dead human reanimated by the Solanum virus i.e. The Classic hollywood zombie is impossible, Deal with it.

It has to be(at current tech) a biological or chemical agent which induces a Homicidal frenzy in humans
Does anyone Know of such an agent or attempt to develop such a agent?

degrassinoel

nothing is impossible :P

And yeah sure, Rabies in animals which can be treated and can cross species to a whole host of other species including humans, and the narcotic agent in specific bath salts that made a homeless guy eat someone's face in Miami, even bullets couldn't stop him initially, the victim survived, the attacker was shot multiple times before he succumbed to his wounds on the scene. A bullet to the head is what's believed to have killed him.
Link here

That's oddly enough not an entirely isolated incident. There have been a few of those type of attacks this year, Miami being the most noticeable.

Creepy as hell, but there it is.. not definitive proof of zombies, but proof that the type of behaviour a zombie exhibits can be replicated through an underlying psychological condition and an easily obtainable hygiene product.

Also, there were a few other attacks (gruesome ones at that) by people who were high from the effects of synthetic pot.
You can google that one yourself

ScumLord

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

The dead human reanimated by the Solanum virus i.e. The Classic hollywood zombie is impossible, Deal with it.

Solanum is a made up virus for a book, it doesn't mean that in the vastness of the natural world that something else could have the same effects.

The symptoms of zombies aren't exactly pulled out of thin air either. They started with voodoo zombies which where people in a drugged state, so a chemical can cause the symptoms, we also have plenty of examples of people controlling bodily functions through meditation. We also have examples of parasites zombifying insects in the natural world.

Zombie symptoms are out there, there's just nothing specifically aimed at the human yet.

It has to be(at current tech) a biological or chemical agent which induces a Homicidal frenzy in humans
Does anyone Know of such an agent or attempt to develop such a agent?

Watch "Joe Rogan questions everything" if you can find it. One of the episodes was on new punk bio labs being set up in the states and people worrying about what they can create in there. One guy said they could essentially create a zombification weapon in those labs.

It's still going to end up being a virus/bacteria/parasite though. Biological weapons are just re-engineered biological life forms, the fact they can reengineer them shows that it's possible and probably just as likely that these things could develop naturally outside of a lab. Nature is more than likely producing just as many new and dangerous viruses on a daily basis, the zombie virus could be out there infecting another animal waiting to jump to our species when we show up in that remote part of the forest. The problem for this virus is that it's too effective at killing it's host, in a forest setting it might disable it's victim before it can make it out to infect other people.

Tzar Chasm

I think there may be a plausible case for a bacterial parasite

consider a 'smart' pathogen, capable of full infection of the body enabling motor control by means of simple contraction.

one bite causes infection,

body initially fights but is overcome

infected dies

pathogen now has time to grow out and occupy host body fully

lather rinse repeat