Zombie Apocalypse: Realistically? Yes or No.

[Darksider18]

Me? i actually want a zombie apocalypse to happen plainly because it would be THE ultimate test on Human Survival, but deep down i know its never gonna happen. Based on realism, heres my top 2 reasons, feel free to either go against my notions or add to it. . :: 1) Temperature: Think about it, most of the planet has extreme weather conditions, and in this case, things that are keeping us from rotting or freezing to death is action, reaction and our beloved Central Nervous System. and when your dead, this CNS is also dead. which means there is literally no way that an average zombie could survive (or After-Survived). just a rotting, melting, freezing dead corpse walking into their own doom. and they dont even know it. because yeah, thats right, they cant feel pain. 2) Basic Self-Survival: Heres another thing that keeps us from dying. Survival skills, Team-work, basic use of a weapon, you know stuff like that. zombies cant do anything like that, right? because the only feature of their body that has been reanimated is the brain stem. so in this case, they are just a walking bag of flesh waiting to be eaten by all sorts of creatures. And they cant stop the attacks because yet again, they dont have nerves or reactions or pain receptors.

[JDFP]

EDIT: Sorry, I originally misunderstood what you were asking. Do I want it to ever happen? Hell no. Would it be very bad (at minimum) if it ever happened? Oh yes. The zombies wouldn't be the worst danger (at least in the beginning) -- it would be other people you would have to worry about. In the ensuing chaos that would come to be there would be riots, killings, and the worst possible chaos imaginable on a global scale. More people would probably die from distribution and service lines breaking down (lack of food, medicines, electricity for heat/cooling, etc.) as opposed to the zombies -- at least at first. And then add to this the general insanity that would ensue from the 'masses of living idiots' who would be more damaging than the zombies. We're them and they're us, and that kind of jazz, we don't need them to destroy us when we could very well do it ourselves in the potential tragedy of something like that ever taking place. I'd like to think more positively and think we'd stick together as humanity (perhaps in smaller communities/towns and rural areas it would be better) but if you're in a major urban area you're pretty much screwed. j.p.

[bassman]

Hell no I wouldn't want it to happen. Not that it ever could, anyway. They're just movies. No amount of firepower or "knowledge" on the situation is going to help anyone here. We've seen people come and go around this place saying that they could easliy survive the zombie apocalypse. They're armed to the teeth and know exactly what to do! Puh-lease. These guys would die just as quick as everyone else. The only thing that could really help you in that sort of situation is extreme luck.......unless of course you're the president. Then you would stand a pretty good chance. Otherwise....we're all fucked.

[Mr.G]

I do think the isolationists would last the longest. Someone living in Alaska/Canada or parts of the remote western US would do well. Lacking a larger population base has to help your percentage of survival.

[Mitchified]

Me? i actually want a zombie apocalypse to happen plainly because it would be THE ultimate test on Human Survival, but deep down i know its never gonna happen. So just to recap, you want something to happen that would lead to the deaths of millions of people around the world? Including probably your own?

[MoonSylver]

Me? i actually want a zombie apocalypse to happen plainly because it would be THE ultimate test on Human Survival, but deep down i know its never gonna happen. Based on realism, heres my top 2 reasons, feel free to either go against my notions or add to it. . :: Never gonna happen. Nor do we need it to. We're going to do just fine wiping ourselves out. We don't need zed's for that. 1) Temperature: Think about it, most of the planet has extreme weather conditions, and in this case, things that are keeping us from rotting or freezing to death is action, reaction and our beloved Central Nervous System. and when your dead, this CNS is also dead. which means there is literally no way that an average zombie could survive (or After-Survived). just a rotting, melting, freezing dead corpse walking into their own doom. and they dont even know it. because yeah, thats right, they cant feel pain. I've postulated this one before, but who says they're susceptible to any of the above anymore? If I can accept the premise that something has reanimated a dead body & made it get up & walk around & want to eat people (& that's already a HUGE stretch), it's not that much further to accept that whatever reanimated them made have made further changes in their biology. If Logan is correct, we already know cellular decay has been severely curtailed, so it's not inconceivable that other changes have been made to let's say, have their blood &/or cell tissue act as some kind of "antifreeze", become unpalitable to maggots & other insects, etc. In that case, you can't depend on nature to save your ass. 2) Basic Self-Survival: Heres another thing that keeps us from dying. Survival skills, Team-work, basic use of a weapon, you know stuff like that. zombies cant do anything like that, right? because the only feature of their body that has been reanimated is the brain stem. so in this case, they are just a walking bag of flesh waiting to be eaten by all sorts of creatures. And they cant stop the attacks because yet again, they dont have nerves or reactions or pain receptors. Most of that would be offset by the following: The zombies wouldn't be the worst danger (at least in the beginning) -- it would be other people you would have to worry about. In the ensuing chaos that would come to be there would be riots, killings, and the worst possible chaos imaginable on a global scale. More people would probably die from distribution and service lines breaking down (lack of food, medicines, electricity for heat/cooling, etc.) as opposed to the zombies -- at least at first. And then add to this the general insanity that would ensue from the 'masses of living idiots' who would be more damaging than the zombies. J.D.'s got it right. The beginning would be BAD. The # of dead would increase ENORMOUSLY right off the bat for all of the reasons listed above.

[Wyldwraith]

Well, I don't believe the undead could ever rise, but I also don't *actively* discount ANYTHING from happening in this world. Life is just too weird. Now, could something like 28 Days/Weeks Later happen? You betcha it could. The wrong difficult to detect Prion slipping into the beef/pork/poultry supply, and you could have mayhem in a hurry. ESPECIALLY if said Prion's nature was such that it goes undetected by the current means of scrutinizing our foodstuffs for taint. Not incredibly likely, but NOT impossible. That said, all you really need is some sort of (let's just call it an "Infectious Agent") that, among its other symptoms, afflicts the host with severe paranoia, something similar to a "Thyroid Storm" effect in the Adrenal Glands...or just Paranoia + good ole-fashioned psychotic breaks (which CAN be caused by some pathogens/diseases). Ramp up someone's adrenaline and/or epinephrin (sp?), afflict them with severe paranoia, and shove them out of touch with reality via a psychotic break...and the sick could very well believe WE are the zombies they need to kill before we eat them...or somesuch manifold justifications for believing everyone is out to get them. If something like that happened on a large scale it wouldn't be the end of civilization, but it WOULD eclipse all but the very worst of natural disasters/epidemics in recorded history as far as total mayhem and fatalities went. When an epidemic isn't just stretching emergency services to the breaking point in dealing with/attempting to treat and/or isolate the sick, but is ALSO straining law enforcement to said breaking point nationwide because of the violent behavior of the sick....you'd be looking at a situation that would require extended Martial Law to bring under control. That's without even getting into the localized disasters that could be caused by such deranged individuals. A retired priest comes to believe the other residents of his apartment building are Satanists who are stealing and sacrificing babies, and who've used their black magic to keep the cops oblivious to their activities might decide he needs to burn down the building to "purge the evil"....and then the fire spreads, because emergency services are already overtaxed. Etc. Etc. Etc. So you don't need to cross over to territory nearly as unlikely as the living dead to find the world, or at least your country caught up in the midst of a nightmare scenario.

[mpokera]

Is a Zombie Apocalypse possible? EVERYTHING is possible. Just look at the things that are in the world today that if you asked someone in the past they would have said was completely impossible. Is it possible with what we understand today? No, but to believe we are the complete pinnacle of knowledge and can foresee everything that is possible would be hubris to the millionth degree IMHO. The 28 days later/rage virus type zombies? I think this is certainly possible. No reanimation of the dead/supernatural/violation of the laws of nature is needed for this. Just an unknown pathogen that shortcircuits higher brain functions and leaves nothing but unreasoning aggression. I actually think this is quite likely to eventually happen. I only hope that if and when it does, it is in a highly controlled situation and not allowed to break out into the population at large because if it does we are all in big trouble. 'Zombies' of this type would of course be susceptible to normal ways of disposal, if harder to kill than normal people just because they would ignore pain. GAR actual living dead zombies? This is of course a much larger stretch but I still dont think anything can be totally ruled out. Barring supernatural or demonic influence I cant swallow the dead rising from graves and the like. But it isnt too hard to imagine a virus/prion type organism taking over and modifying the human body for its purpose. Shutting down all systems except for mobility and feeding. Making the body in effect 'dead' and unable to be stopped without actually severing the brain from the ambulatory machine below. The disease wouldnt be intelligent of course, so its only drive is to survive and replicate, having the body attack and devour other noninfected life would accomplish both of these. Now as to your objections. Who says temperature would bother them at all? They dont feel any pain or discomfort, there is no blood circulating to warm the muscles but why do they need to be warm? If they arent actually frozen they would still operate. As for decay and the like, if the flesh of the zombie is toxic, even insects will leave it alone. And without the influence of maggots and micro-organisms, decay would be much, much slower if in fact they decayed at all. And survival instinct? zombies have none of course, nor do they need it, their only enemy is man, no animal would bother them, there are plenty of examples of animals being able to detect diseased flesh from a distance and not even looking at it as food. Is there anything that we know of that is capable of this? Of course not. Is it possible it could exist someday, manmade or otherwise? I think we would be foolish to think it couldnt happen

[Mr. Clean]

So just to recap, you want something to happen that would lead to the deaths of millions of people around the world? Including probably your own? LOL "well....since you put it that way...."

[Rancid Carcass]

EVERYTHING is possible. I take it you haven't tried transmuting base metals into gold recently then?

[mpokera]

I take it you haven't tried transmuting base metals into gold recently then? Just because you or I (or anyone else at this point) cant do something doesnt mean its impossible. At this point obviously tranmutation of metals isnt possible. will it ever be? Who knows, if nanotechnology advances far enough it could be just as one possible example.

[Mr. Clean]

I take it you haven't tried transmuting base metals into gold recently then? I've "almost" went super saiyan a few times. Someday I swear....someday

[rongravy]

Well, if it happens, I'm not far away from the boonies to hide out safely for awhile. Just gotta be able to make it out to them, family intact. Then hunt and fish awhile. Unless they're those damned Dawn 04 fuckers, then I'm screwed, because I'm a lazy fat bastard. Could this all happen? I doubt it, but it's possible. I just don't think there'd be anything supernatural to read into it. Do I want this to happen, as long as they're slow as hell...? Errrrrrrrrrrrr. Only when my alarm clock goes off in the mornings about 4:30 in the am Monday through Friday. Kidding, geez.

[brer]

Heck, bring it on. If the undead killer mutant commie zombies are subject to rot, they have an unlife expectancy measured in days in my local. Probably not even worth breaking out the shottie. Now, as I get older, fatter, and lazier, I find myself somewhat reluctant to lose the comforts of civilization. Indoor plumbing, the internet, and 250 channels of nothing to watch. Regular meals fit in there somewhere, along with beer, but we can't be too picky.

[JDFP]

Regular meals fit in there somewhere, along with beer, but we can't be too picky. #1 priority for me in the event of any type of apocalyptic event is to ask myself: "Have I stockpiled enough beer to do me awhile?" Then again, I'm a drunk. So, there you go. j.p.