Can Zombies exist or not?

[Captain Blackout]

Zombies have existed, and still do. One example, while a much lesser variety than the flesh eaters, are the mindless brain dead mobs of consumerism at the malls of the world everyday.

Also, I have a working recipe for zombie poison. If anyone wants to experience death, resurrection, and loss of their soul let me know [small]it will cost you a fortune, though. Minimum a quarter of a million dollars. Probably closer to half[/small].

 

[Silent observer]

I would agree with what has been said - a zombie, as in a dead person reanimated, is illogical. However, there are many other definitions of zombie, quite apart from that of Hollywood. For example, if it's just a person who has entered a zombie like state, then it's entirely possible. There are multiple ways it could be brought about:

- A disease or parasite that makes a person highly aggressive and is transmitted through biting (rabies, anyone?)

- A corpse re-animated by machinery

Your arguments against are far more obvious - that it defies all medical and biological reason, and that (apart from a few 'freak incidents' that could be attributed to a number of different factors) there is simply no evidence for it.

 

[Corvuus]

You should probably change or clarify the 'zombie dialectic' that you are writing.

I'm not a writer at all, but I believe dialectic should have hypothesis, argument, contradictions and that you CAN move to a... different 'truth' that isn't either of the original hypothesis at all.

I personally would vote for you to change your topic completely but you could attempt it like this:

Hypothesis: Zombies can exist. Counter: Zombies can not exist. Arguments showing why they can exist (or not) but science, etc. (rigor mortis, other examples people cited) shows that they are ineffective/impractical so you arrive at a new conclusion. Zombies 'could' exist but not as the hollywood horror version, etc. etc.

It could work depending on how good of a writer you are, but I would still recommend changing to a different topic since you can easily get bogged down in things.

C

 

[deus-ex-machina]

If you look up oxidative stress and pharmacology of the brain after ischaemic events, you should find some reasons for why it is not possible for the body to function after death. People who have strokes or brain injuries go for periods without sufficient oxygen to the brain, which after just a few minutes can cause permanent injury. Even after the brain is reperfused with oxygen and blood, the damage is too much and the reperfusion itself can cause further damage due to the generation of nitric oxide, superoxide and peroxynitrite. The brain is poorly protected from pro-oxidants so its survival and 'regeneration' after death is almost impossible. The best you will get is a zombie which is in need of a hospital bed for the rest of a vegetative state of life.

There is probably brain surgery which could render a person mindless, slow and lumbering and indeed drugs which can induce states of Parkinsonian like symptoms, but these stray far from the definition of a zombie and are far from politically correct. People with Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease have been known to show poor movement, poor co-ordination, high irritability, bouts of violence and general aggression. Again, far from being zombies but showing 'desired' qualities. I say you should look up the pharmacology of the brain because these diseases are known to have effects on the normal neurotransmitters which provide normal function.

Abnormal Tau proteins in Alzheimer's prevent proper transport of cellular organelles and transmitters in neurones. Amyloid plaques are seen in significant high amounts in certain regions of the brain but it's not known for sure if these cause the symptoms of dementia or are a result of prior damage of Tau proteins. Dopamine is targetted in Parkinson's to slow the degradation of movement and in Huntington's disease there is an abnormality of the Huntingtin gene which produces excessive codon repeats in the genes and there are also insoluble deposits found in the brain.

I think if you want to look at the likelihood of 'zombies' you should look into the above.

As for the need of brains and blood, obviously, there is no explanation for its place in reality. Co-morbidities of extreme psychoses and schizophrenia could possibly induce the deception for the need of such things, but that's just a random postulation knowing that people who suffer from these conditions are prone to delusions.

 

[Russian_Assassin]

£5 says that someone will post the Cracked article.

Fuck, I had the intention, but NO! I won't let you win money!

NO! Zombies can't exist and will not exist, at least not the kind everyone knows. Maybe if we all caught rabies or something...

And yeah, go to cracked.com, they've got plenty of funny stuff about zombies.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Hey,

In social studies we have to do a dialectical essay on a topic with opposing sides. Naturally, I chose to write about 'Zombies: Is it possible for them to exist, or not?' I found alot of information about how zombies can, scientifically, exist, but none about how, scientifically, they cannot exist. Does anyone know any good websites, links or ideas? I REAAAAALLLY need help

Depends on what kind of zombie you mean. If you mean an "infected zombie," a living human being driven wild by a virus, like those in 28 days later, yes, and in a way do exist. Rabies is a virus that attacks the central nervous system. It drives the animal mad, forcing them to forget food or drink, and just makes them bite every living thing in sight. This is to spread the virus as far as possible. Of course the virus kills its host in a matter of days, and I don't know what it does to humans (I rather not know), but viruses that changes behavior to create a "zombie" could easy be made. If I were you, I would look up rabies more.

If you mean a Romero zombie, a dead body brought back to life, I doubt it. While one can make a body twitch and move if one puts eletricity into a body, making the body after the brain has been without Oxygen for anything after a few minutes is impossible with current science, nor has any virus been able to mimic the brain waves to let a corpse move in a zombie like way. Even if we knew how to mimic all the eletircal singals the nervous system gets from the brain, the result would techincally be a robot made out of a corpse, and not a zombie.

I hoped that helped

 

[Rofl-Mayo]

Yes zombies can exist, I have looked in to this before. They wouldn't be the type to eat brains though, they would just do your bidding. With a drug you can find in the Caribbean you can temporarily kill them, and then after the funeral you can go dig up the body and bring the body out of it's death like state, using another drug to put it in a mind paralysis state that would make it do whatever the bokor/creator of this "zombie" wanted.

To actually make a flesh eating zombie though, I don't know, Inject a living body with rabies, and lock him up until the rabies virus takes effect. I hope this is some help to you.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Zombies can not exist.
Once you die your brain stops working, therefore, there is nothing to stimulate your muscles to move.

Not traditional zombies, but the "infected" can, scientifically.

 

[Arikarin Aririkamei]

I doubt it, as once your brain dies, you don't have anything to control your muscles. BUT, if they did somehow exist, wouldn't killing them be harder? As just doing something like shooting them in the torso wouldn't work very well, because they don't need any of the organs in there. (Or do they? I'm confuzzled...) Well, this is assuming that you're reffering to good old fashion undead zombies, not ones caused by a virus or something.

 

[cocoadog]

Everyone you ever knew or loved now becoming a mindless enemy with no hope of a cure? The entire world and society crumbling? You spending the rest of your days simply struggling to survive, to find water, electricity, shelter, safety?

Exactly how is this different then everyday life?

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Well, according to this:

Spoiler

Zombies are a force of a virus called Solanum, which mutates their brain cells, takes control of the brain then stops the heart. The virus is in control, and tries to kill anything that has the displeasure of living for unknown reasons.

It's possible, but the Mr. T comic (on the first page) says differently. However, I virus that makes humans go insane to want to kill and eat everyone sounds much, much more possible.

So my final verdict: Possible but improbable.

 

[PhantomCritic]

Well talking about traditional, old fashioned zombies, quite impossible me thinks, but if you are talking about this new crap called the "infected" then yes, possible.

 

[L4hlborg]

I hope zombies can exist.
I hope that there is a zombie apocalypse.
I hope that every zombie fanboy out there that has ever spouted crap saying that "A Zombie Apocalypse would be so awsome!!!!1!!!ZOMGLOLZ!!1!" realizes how stupid they were for saying it, gets devoured by a zombie, and realizes the error of their ways.

How would a zombie apocalypse be anything other than completely terrible and horrifying?
Everyone you ever knew or loved now becoming a mindless enemy with no hope of a cure? The entire world and society crumbling? You spending the rest of your days simply struggling to survive, to find water, electricity, shelter, safety?

/endsrant

I don't think the survival sounds fun, but I would enjoy the world without so many people. I think it would be a therapeuthic experience, actually getting to fight all the idiots of the world, instead of being told to try to communicate with them. It may not be so fun at a long term though.

I don't think it would be fun short term either.

Killing another human being, even if they are all mutated like a zombie, would hardly be a cathartic experience. After all, you would still feel like you were killing a human. What happens when you have to kill someone you knew?

Trust me, I can't stand most humans, and most people are idiots. But I'd be hard pressed to believe that I would be happy seeing the entire world engulfed by a plague and everyone I ever knew or loved transformed into a monstrosity.

As for enjoying the world without so many people, I think as soon as you realized you were one of the last people left on earth, you would miss people.

I understand what you are saying, and I still disagree, but since moving on such a hypothetic level, I find it pointless to argue. Even if a zombie apocalypse happened, it seems mathematically unlikely that neither of us would survive too long. For one of us to be the last person on earth, it's basically 1/6000000000 (not taking really taking anything but the world population in account).

I think I have to figure out a way to realistically simulate the situation. That would be interesting.

 

[Harrowdown]

Zombies can exist, but obviously not the undead kind. Think 'Left4Dead' zombies (common variety only, not hunters or smokers).

 

[BlindMessiah94]

I hope zombies can exist.
I hope that there is a zombie apocalypse.
I hope that every zombie fanboy out there that has ever spouted crap saying that "A Zombie Apocalypse would be so awsome!!!!1!!!ZOMGLOLZ!!1!" realizes how stupid they were for saying it, gets devoured by a zombie, and realizes the error of their ways.

How would a zombie apocalypse be anything other than completely terrible and horrifying?
Everyone you ever knew or loved now becoming a mindless enemy with no hope of a cure? The entire world and society crumbling? You spending the rest of your days simply struggling to survive, to find water, electricity, shelter, safety?

/endsrant

I don't think the survival sounds fun, but I would enjoy the world without so many people. I think it would be a therapeuthic experience, actually getting to fight all the idiots of the world, instead of being told to try to communicate with them. It may not be so fun at a long term though.

I don't think it would be fun short term either.

Killing another human being, even if they are all mutated like a zombie, would hardly be a cathartic experience. After all, you would still feel like you were killing a human. What happens when you have to kill someone you knew?

Trust me, I can't stand most humans, and most people are idiots. But I'd be hard pressed to believe that I would be happy seeing the entire world engulfed by a plague and everyone I ever knew or loved transformed into a monstrosity.

As for enjoying the world without so many people, I think as soon as you realized you were one of the last people left on earth, you would miss people.

I understand what you are saying, and I still disagree, but since moving on such a hypothetic level, I find it pointless to argue. Even if a zombie apocalypse happened, it seems mathematically unlikely that neither of us would survive too long. For one of us to be the last person on earth, it's basically 1/6000000000 (not taking really taking anything but the world population in account).

I think I have to figure out a way to realistically simulate the situation. That would be interesting.

Fair enough. Let me know how the project goes

 

[Continuity]

Traditional "undead" zombies cannot exist because they are animated by necromancy which is a fictional magic. Other scenarios of corpses coming to life spontaneously also are not possible because upon death the body begins to decay and its systems no longer function, plus even the actions of a zombie (shuffling around and eating brains) are pretty complex and would brain function, there is no know virus or bacteria that restores any brain function after death.

 

[Vladamir69]

scientifically speaking it is impossible to function without brain activity. if it functions with its brain then it is not a zombie just a person who has had most of their brain die to let only the primitive survival functions take control.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Zombies can not exist.
Once you die your brain stops working, therefore, there is nothing to stimulate your muscles to move.

Not traditional zombies, but the "infected" can, scientifically.

Yes but that's only because "infected" are not zombies.

Which is why I said "Not traditional". Zombies can be replicated, and they'll still have the same effects.