MNQ | Monday’s Noontide Query: Zombies
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Zombies…popularly conceived as shambling, mindless beings that feed on the brains of the unfortunates they manage to catch up to, sometimes the result of a virus, radiation from a UFO, in at least one setting caused by a supernatural disaster, or my favorite, effectively brain-dead puppets of alien parasites or nanobot colonies that use them like marionettes for locomotion.
Some zombies are very, very fast, but uncommon in the literature.
Some versions of these critters are more feasible biologically than others, though the most plausible of these would require some source of energy to direct and power what’s left of the brain and nervous-system, and of course to drive the muscles, since, simply put, pure fracking magic is out as an explanation in any marginally realistic setting.
Frankly, I find most treatments of zombies disgusting, what with the gore and decay and stuff, and I don’t normally watch zombie movies because of this, though they’re interesting to think about.
There is even a medical study, a mathematical model of disease breakout that uses a hypothetical zombie apocalypse as an example for how the math works, which I find to be rather amusing…and scary, for something published in the peer-reviewed literature.
Even more amusing is the fact that the math works for political party affiliation too, which I find rather telling given current social trends, but that’s neither here nor there…
*sigh*
There are even real parasitic microbes that do sort of the same thing, often fungi that control the brains of their hosts, such as ants, before killing them to perpetuate the parasite’s life-cycle in another animal.
But anyhoo…
Which to you is the coolest concept of zombies?
Do you think it is possible for a zombie apocalypse to happen?
What cause of the outbreak do you think would be the most plausible?
Which the most extraordinary? Why?
What would you do in a zombie apocalypse in terms of survival strategies?
MNQ is a question that I pose to you, my readers, and is posted each Monday at 12:00 PM. Do feel free to comment, and don’t worry yerselves overmuch… I’m not an ogre and I don’t bite…much.
Related articles
- Ugliest Zombie. Most Disgusting Zombie. Ugliest, Most Disgusting Zombie. (waitingonthenewmoon.wordpress.com)
- Zombie Survival Guide of the Day (geeks.thedailywh.at)
- Reblog: Zombie-Thon: October 2011! (zombiethon.wordpress.com)
Posted on Monday, 12:00, October 3, 2011, in Troythulu's Queries and tagged Inquiry, Noontide Query, Query, Question, Questioning, Questions, Zombie. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
I’m looking forward to reading that paper.
I once read that the only difference between geek mothers & religious ones, was that I prepared my kids for a zombiepocolypse rather than Armageddon. lol
Did I ever tell you how cool it is to have friends like you?
Well, it is. So there.
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