Is a Zombie Apocalypse Possible? Morgan Freeman Knows

[Karloff]

Is a Zombie Apocalypse Possible? Morgan Freeman Knows


Through the Wormhole takes a look at the zombie epidemic that will wipe us all out.

Somehow I suspect that few of the revelations in this trailer for Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole episode Is a Zombie Apocalypse Possible? will be any news to you, but it's still a kicker hearing Freeman's dulcet tones informing us all just how badly we're screwed. Yep, urban centers will tumble after a week or so; yep, fleeing refugees will spread the virus world-wide. Then what? Well then we fight back, says Freeman's tame mathematician. With a cricket bat, apparently, though personally I prefer the bile jar/Molotov cocktail option.

Through the Wormhole [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1513168/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl] bills itself as a series that brings together "the brightest minds and best ideas from the very edges of science ... to reveal the extraordinary truth of our Universe." It's touched on everything from aliens to parallel universes so far, and Freeman's been aboard since the beginning.

"We wanted to merge our 'Rock Stars of Science' with the superstars of pop culture," says executive producer Bernadette Mcdaid [http://www.thefutoncritic.com/interviews.aspx?id=20100609_throughthewormhole]. "It's not only about making science accessible but also making people think."


Is a Zombie Apocalypse Possible? is episode 10 of the current season. The full thing's 44 minutes long, and is currently available via Amazon [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LADOKK2?SubscriptionId=0SMVYTEJQZQ0MFNMXQ02&tag=clickermedia-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00LADOKK2] for a couple bucks.

Source: Science Channel YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvJiYiBUbw4tmpRSZT2r1Hw]




Permalink

 

[dumbseizure]

Oh god.

Don't do this Morgan Freeman.

Zombie apocalypses look cool because I didn't think there was ever a chance of it happening.

Don't tell me that it actually IS possible!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, in Australia, we hold to the laws of thermodynamics, we don't allow perpetual machines like zombies around.

Keeps running around indefinitely without any source of fuel or energy? Yeah, not putting up with that.

 

[Zeke17]

Did anyone actually watch the embedded video? That was so ridiculous it was almost a parody.

 

[Clowndoe]

Also: 6-foot high walls and blokes with assault rifles behind them. There's a reason guns phased out swords a few centuries ago.

 

[luvd1]

I didn't know Morgan was now working at loading ready run?

 

[Eiv]

Eh, ill still take neil Degrasse Tyson's explanation.

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/neil_degrasse_tyson_ruins_zombies_on_the_daily_show-2013-11

Human bodies require everything it relies on to be working. Zombies involve a walking corpse where nothing works but somehow the brain still kinda does but also doesn't.

So zombies can't stand, move, or be hungry. The brain would also be gone quickly making zombies short lived if the brain is slush. Ironically, zombies eating brains would destroy the one thing that makes them even viable. Beating people to death cripples the new zombie, so that is out too.

Added to the fact that if no-one is manning the nuclear power stations, they would all go..... nuclear.

 

[kouriichi]

Eh, ill still take neil Degrasse Tyson's explanation.

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/neil_degrasse_tyson_ruins_zombies_on_the_daily_show-2013-11

Human bodies require everything it relies on to be working. Zombies involve a walking corpse where nothing works but somehow the brain still kinda does but also doesn't.

So zombies can't stand, move, or be hungry. The brain would also be gone quickly making zombies short lived if the brain is slush. Ironically, zombies eating brains would destroy the one thing that makes them even viable. Beating people to death cripples the new zombie, so that is out too.

On top of that, even if the virus somehow kept the brain alive and the body moving, it would only take a matter of days/weeks for the body to become a useless pile of rotted slime. The elements are extremely harsh. Standing in the sun, or walking through the winter reeks havoc on the body. Humidity can cause fungus to grow, and de-comp to accelerate. And too little humidity will cause the body to dry and become brittle.

With the body having no care given to it, but constant stress put on it, it would take very little time for it to breakdown into it sludge. The only reason living creatures are as resistant as we are is simply because we heal, produce new cells, and avoid taking a consistent injuries. Simply put, you can probably survive the zombie apocalypse by sitting in your closet, eating canned vegetable for a month, waiting for the whole thing to sort itself out.

 

[Eiv]

Eh, ill still take neil Degrasse Tyson's explanation.

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/neil_degrasse_tyson_ruins_zombies_on_the_daily_show-2013-11

Human bodies require everything it relies on to be working. Zombies involve a walking corpse where nothing works but somehow the brain still kinda does but also doesn't.

So zombies can't stand, move, or be hungry. The brain would also be gone quickly making zombies short lived if the brain is slush. Ironically, zombies eating brains would destroy the one thing that makes them even viable. Beating people to death cripples the new zombie, so that is out too.

Added to the fact that if no-one is manning the nuclear power stations, they would all go..... nuclear.

Only old ones from the Generation II reactors. Generation IIIs have the ability to shut down automatically when it detects something ain't right. After humans covered that.

The only ones that would go nuclear would be the old early cold war ones that never got updated and the ones that people were too scared to update.

Good to know.

 

[sumanoskae]

If an infection like this could spread through the air, you're fucked regardless. If it isn't, and is spread through a bight, that shit would be quarantined so fast.

 

[sumanoskae]

Oh god.

Don't do this Morgan Freeman.

Zombie apocalypses look cool because I didn't think there was ever a chance of it happening.

Don't tell me that it actually IS possible!

It's too late; Morgan Freeman has spoken, and his will shall be done.

 

[luvd1]

Eh, ill still take neil Degrasse Tyson's explanation.

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/neil_degrasse_tyson_ruins_zombies_on_the_daily_show-2013-11

Human bodies require everything it relies on to be working. Zombies involve a walking corpse where nothing works but somehow the brain still kinda does but also doesn't.

So zombies can't stand, move, or be hungry. The brain would also be gone quickly making zombies short lived if the brain is slush. Ironically, zombies eating brains would destroy the one thing that makes them even viable. Beating people to death cripples the new zombie, so that is out too.

On top of that, even if the virus somehow kept the brain alive and the body moving, it would only take a matter of days/weeks for the body to become a useless pile of rotted slime. The elements are extremely harsh. Standing in the sun, or walking through the winter reeks havoc on the body. Humidity can cause fungus to grow, and de-comp to accelerate. And too little humidity will cause the body to dry and become brittle.

With the body having no care given to it, but constant stress put on it, it would take very little time for it to breakdown into it sludge. The only reason living creatures are as resistant as we are is simply because we heal, produce new cells, and avoid taking a consistent injuries. Simply put, you can probably survive the zombie apocalypse by sitting in your closet, eating canned vegetable for a month, waiting for the whole thing to sort itself out.

And then there's bacteria, fungi(as you pointed out) and insects. All those little, lovely things that real love rotten meat. The flies will have a field day. Then there's the vastness of the country. If 90% of the population of the US were infected and you lived in the country, you could still live happy without meeting a zombie coz it's so big.

My main grip with zombie movies is the immortality of zombies. We have dead, rotting walking corpses that seem to have stopped rotting or falling apart so they can walk about for days/weeks/months/years. That is just stupid.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Glad to know this forum has a sense of science. If you try to argue with zombie cultists(you know, the people who seem to WANT the zombie apocalypse to happen)that the zombie apocalypse will not happen, they will skirt every fact of science to prove that it will. Most I've argued with just say that new viruses pop up all the time, as though that fact proves a virus that bends all the rules of biology will suddenly appear.

I'd be more worried about an actual virus like a bird flu/measles hybrid or something coming killing off 10% of humanity.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Err it doesn't take a brainer to know that a real life zombie epidemic would go very badly for us living people and how to deal with them.

 

[The White Hunter]

Nope. Totally impossible.

Even if it were, do you know what will stop it?

The heat.

The cold.

The moisture in the air.

Bacteria.

Insects.

Predatory and scavenging animals.

Tanks.

Helicopter gunships.

Close your doors and windows, shut off the lights and marathon a good RPG and they'll all have been destroyed by the sun and ants within 3 or 4 days.