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[pstepdaughter]

Items for discussion:

What are zombies? Specifically, are they alive or are they somehow just animated corpses? If they are animated corpses, where does the energy needed to move around and freak out come from? Presumably food is required for their sustained existence/comfort. How much?

Why are there zombies? Are there zombies because there'

Comments

[unit9]

"What are zombies? Specifically, are they alive or are they somehow just animated corpses? If they are animated corpses, where does the energy needed to move around and freak out come from? Presumably food is required for their sustained existence/comfort. How much?"

·lets look at this as scientifically as we can under the circumstances. if we use the romero films as our study we have to really pay attention to what the zombies are doing and how they act.
·In “night” it is eluded that a meteor from venus caused the dead to rise from the grave and seek human flesh to feast upon. Now, this could be 100 different things as the causing agent as well, Including virus, an unknown type of radiation etc.

Why are there zombies? Are there zombies because there's an evil fog, radiation, cometary impact, or is it a virus?

·They also state that when you are bitten you become one very quickly. This would mean that they are spreading this affliction like a virus. So lets assume that this is what causes zombie-ism.

What is the life-cycle of a zombie? Whether a zombie is just an infected human, another organism altogether, or an animated corpse, they seem to be having a bad time of it. How long does a zombie "live" before succumbing to decay (or starvation, if it can be proven that a zombie gets energy through consuming food)? Is it smart policy to quarantine and wait out a zombie plague?

Advanced questions:
Zombies are destroyed by damaging the brain. How much damage constitutes terminal damage? A bullet or shattered cranium does the trick. What about severe trauma? What about tissue damage that comes from dehydration and/or decay. If a zombie has circulating blood, the brain could remain in a pretty good state for a long period. If not, the delicate tissue can deteriorate very quickly. Is this not a potentially terminal form of brain damage?

·I don’t think a plague can be waited out. you don’t have to be bitten to become a zombie, it just helps. So this “virus” must be airborne too.
·The life cycle must be until there is no brain left at all. We see from ‘land’, and ‘day’ that some zombies are so decayed that they can barely move but they still live.
·I believe that if this is a virus that is bringing corpses back to life, it may also have the ability to protect itself by protecting the brain. Possibly routing fluids and what not to the brain. But we also see a lot of zombies bleeding out for long periods of time without dying, so it may be something else protecting the brain.
·They may not starve. The reason they eat flesh is because of the virus, so there may be something only in humans that this virus can consume. The corpse may last until it has completely decayed while the virus will hibernate so to speak. Or dry up and wait for more flesh (like sea monkey eggs in water).

If zombies have a finite life-cycle contingent on decay, is it evolutionarily sound to develop intelligence?

·They say that the creatures go back to doing what they did before they died. So any intelligence outside of base functions (ie eating and walking) could be attributed to what is left of the creatures mind. Zombies that act outside the norm may be the leftover human part evolving alongside the virus.