Cracked’s 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail
Here’s the latest zombie write up from the fine people over at Cracked.com about why a zombie apocalypse could not happen. This isn’t a scientific breakdown of biology and viruses or any examination of whether such a state is even possible. Rather, the article examines on how a zombie apocalypse is just not sustainable in the modern world.
The article goes on to mention things like heat and cold being a factor. Wild animals make an appearance and of course, people’s love of metal pointy things that go boom. I gotta say, I’m kind of in agreement with the final conclusion. If zombies can be killed with guns, I just can’t see them rising in any serious numbers to overthrow human civilization. While there may be a large swath of the population who will become zombie chow, there are plenty of us alive who would show no fear in the face of a rotting apocalypse, but would thrive in it. Give such a person a large cache of weapons, some good body armor, and a few months of rations, that person would be able to clear out city blocks without any problem. Form an army of such people and the zombies would be annihilated.
Personally, I think Return of the Living Dead got it right. In that movie, guns were useless against the dead with the only option being to nuke the entire town. I could really see the living dead spiraling out of control in such a scenario. With the only means of dispatching them being a sword, humanity wouldn’t stand a chance.
What do you think about this? Did Crack did get it right or am I missing something pretty important?
7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly) (cracked.com <- new window)
Filed under: Articles about Zombies, Humor · Tags: Articles about Zombies, Cracked, Humor
I saw the article a couple hours ago…and I think they’re missing a few big things.
First on my list: human nature. Most people don’t like to shoot at other humans, and people are going to have a very hard time believing that their next door neighbor is suddenly an enemy. Even soldiers who KNOW that it’s “kill or be killed” sometimes have trouble pulling that trigger when they can actually see their enemies.
Personally, I threw out all of the “animals would eat them, weather would destroy the corpse, everything would rot away in days” arguements, because this would be an unknown virus or bacteria, capable of altering the human body in unknowable ways. It would have to repel wild animals somehow by scent, which isn’t that far of a stretch. It would also need to somehow slow the decomposition of the human body…which again…not that far of a stretch.
The bit about closing boarders…that’s all well and good…by the time people realize what’s going on. What if it’s a tiny scratch or cut that the person has? Those might take days to turn the infected person into a zombie. Plenty of time to take a plane trip to any part of the world. And with enough money, there is always a way to get where you want to go, regardless of closed boarders.
As far as well armed people being able to defend themselves…I 100% agree with that…As long as they’re intellegent people who aren’t going to think they’re invincible because they’re armed…and really…how many people do we know like that?
I mean, I don’t think a zombie apocolypse is ever actually going to happen, but not because of the reasons this guy mentions; all disastors are unforeseeable until we see them, after all. :p
As always … well said, Nicole!
Thanks. :)