"Dawn of the Dead" in real life?

Ah ok, thanks guys, I Kind of understand it a bit now.

[edit on 22-11-2007 by Opulisum]

There's an awesome book i bought a while ago called "The Zombie Survival Guide." It's in the humor section of book stores for a reason though. It COULD be possible that some sort of virus could cause zombie like symptoms, (probably not manufactured by a large American company) but an outbreak of such devastating proportions as in 'Dawn of the Dead' in such technological and defensive times as these would be nearly impossible (although i do enjoy the thought of a life of defensive survival rather than the boring ass school and work i do nowadays). I highly suggest reading that book. If not for a laugh, than for the preparation of something like that ever happening =-D

Before all is said and done a bunch of weird #'s going to happen.

Anything relating to Zombie Fiction has to have two things for it to be considered good.

1. The cause is hinted at but never revealed. There may have been a 'crashed meteor from Venus' or an unknown drug escaped containment somewhere in the world, but it is never confirmed or elaborated on.
   
2. No one survives. Ever.
   

Not feasible. A corpse can not move about on it's own. There is no chemical reaction that would allow what you see in the movies to be possible.

i just stumbled over this thread, and while reading it, i came to think of something i had read a couple of days ago.
i managed to find the site, so here it is; 5 scientific reasons a zombie apocalypse could actually happen.
now, even though cracked.com is a humor site, these 5 theories all seem feasible to me.. just thought i should share. maybe you guys find it interesting ;p

Someone's been watching a bit too much Resident Evil Im guessing.

We all know that the Brain, even after Death, still has small electrical impulses going through it. BUT, I find it near impossible for those impulses to bring back life, and even if it did, wtf is with Human Flesh

I didn't have time to read the whole post, so I'm sorry if this has been covered, but I just couldn't resist when it comes to zombies. I'm a nurse that has worked in a lab concerned with isolating viruses and attempting to make vaccines. Once I got into a conversation with one of the researchers about zombies and viruses, and this is about what he told me. (It's been a few years since I worked there as a temp so I'm sorry if any of the fallowing information is inaccurate.)

Viral is the most likely way of causing a zombie apocalypse, and here is why.

1. Most viruses can be transferred by most types of bodily fluid.

2. Of all the microorganisms that threaten us, viruses replicate the fastest.

3. Many viruses can live outside the body for days, and even hibernate in a protein cocoon allowing them to live outside a host for years!

4. Lastly and most importantly viruses can reanimate dead cell in order to multiply.

How a virus works. My simplified version.
A virus can enter the host through thin or damaged skin, mucus membranes (eyes, and nose mainly), orally (if there is a wound in the mouth), or by coming into direct contact with blood, saliva, or feces, as well as any bodily fluid containing blood.
Once in the host body the virus enters a cell and reconfigures it's DNA/RNA, forcing the cell to make more viruses instead of going through mitosis. Then the cell bursts spreading the newly created viruses to nearby cells starting the whole cycle over.
As mentioned before, some viruses can reanimated dead cells in order to create more viruses. Some labs have used viruses to help combat necrotising toxins by using there regenerative properties.
I don't think I need to tell you were this could lead if such a virus could regenerate brain and nervous tissue. We would have exactly what Max Brooks describes as the solanum virus.

The second most likely suspect would be a prion. an infectious agent composed entirely of protein. Much about prions remain unknown, however they are usually responsible for diseases characterized by the wasting away of the central nervous system, Such as chronic wasting syndrome and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy also know as mad cow disease.
Common effects of prion diseases are
Rigged movements
dementia
confusion
and violence
Even though this sounds good for a possible zombie apocalypse, most prion diseases take decades to even begin showing their effects.

if they can make a drug to alter whether your happy like seretonim. why cant they make a drug or spreadable virus to make you rage out, very very possible very real

if they can make a drug to alter whether your happy like seretonim. why cant they make a drug or spreadable virus to make you rage out, very very possible very real

Has anyone read cell by stephen king? how plausable is that?

LMAO!!! I honestly can't believe this thread is still going!

I posted on the second page (4 years ago) some links:
FVZA.org - The Science of Zombies
FVZA.org - Famous Cases

AND AN ATS THREAD ON FVZA.ORG:
The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency

I'm not implying that I actually believe this stuff, but it is fun to entertain the thought!

Originally posted by Bobbo
that's hollywood.

an invincible dead person? how the hell would you even make that?

once the heart stops, the brain dies shortly after. then the body is useless- trust me, i've seen enough dead bodies to attest to that fact.

so if the only way the zombies could die in the movie was through a bullet to the head, why not take a machetti to the neck and sever the head from the body- saves time and money on ammo, and once the heads off, a person- even a zombie- couldnt survive.

to get to my point- zombies aren't real. and the zombies we see in the movies are make-believe. its physically impossible for them to exist- especially ones that are physically impossible to kill.

wrong.

If you had some form of ultra-nano-tech filament that would grow and self replicate forming a secondary nervous system throughout all the muscles in the body, and used piezoelectric nano-mechanisms to glean most of your electric current from, you wouldn't need blood or brains to perform any of the actions the zombies would execute.

enough research has been done on motion-capture and study and implementation of motion -capture into CG characters and robots that you could have a massive database of motions to blend into one another to re-animate the corpse..

you could even have standard feedback and response programs that (however clumsy), could correct their stance based on nano- gyroscope mechanisms thusly balancing themselves.. and use nano-accelerometers to monitor orientation.


you could even have nano-photo/infrared-receptors that reside on the retina feeding visiual info.. and sonic receptors .. anywhere on the body...

and hell any operator in an underground base could "jump" into a zombie and control it through a motion capture technology monitoring the operator's movements.


i mean what wouldn't be a more efficient people-wiping-out method than a zombie-plague.. especially one you could control in specific altercations that require complex decision making and problem solving

have armies of re-animated nano-controlled zombies running around killing everyone.. and certain ones you could jump into here and there.. to interact with the environment ..ie: opening a huge door to allow the other zombies in through...

people killing people has always been effectigve... but DEAD people killing people? phew.. that's the most effecient way...
and they could transfer th nano-replicating"gell" through bites..

this could happen to living people and dead.

all the people alive thinking its some crazy "virus" when actually it's completely military controlled and "DRIVEN"...



they already have HI-MEMS

GOOGLE it .

they inject insect pupae with nanoarrays of receptors and transmitters.. and when the adult matures.. can control the adult's motor functions and sensory input transmitted to base through GWEN /cell towers.

it's a very QUITE possibility...

don't go claiming you think something's impossible in an infinite universe..

especially in the year 2008 when the worlds most advanced military has technology that's advanced 40 years for every 1 year you see tech advance here.


-

Originally posted by silQ


P.S. to all those who didn't c the movie, dont waste ur money. the storyline was terrible and they didn't even explain as to how the "zombie-ness" started. although those praying muslims in the beginning of the movie was definitely implying that there was a terrorist attack. but it was still the FREAKIEST AND SCARIEST movie i've ever seen. it made resident evil look like sesame street!

and i'm not talking about those little whimpy zombies that have they're arms out in front of them and walking slowly towards you. i'm talking about deadish things running after you tearing you apart!

[Edited on 12-4-2004 by silQ]

Okay maybe your infected with that T-virus because that movie was FREAKIN AWSOME!!!!
It gave a perfect description of what a normal person might go through during a ZOMBIE outbreak...
Also THAT MOVIE WAs FREAKIN AWSOME!!!!

one possible way a less complex zombie virus would occur would be interestingly poor upbringing and bad luck; if you see all of the clutter in the streets coupled with the meth epidemic, attacking this country one would naturally have to simultaneously get rabies, led poisoning and slam some meth all at the same time. then there would be three negative stimuli attacking the frontal lobe of the brain including whatever gave them rabies and led poisoning to begin with to make them angry. all the crazed infected addict would need to do is bite someone and hence the other person would be infected with some mutated version of the three poisonings. so if you live in an old shack next to a ferral raccon, put the syrenge down and go to rehab. and another thing... dawn of the dead is in my top ten favorites list of movies right next to pink floyd's the wall and "tommy" the rock opera by the who

Id figure that it'd be a Fungus that would make a zombie, because a Fungus can at least send out impulses in the nervous system, operating the body. Im not sure how it would work exactly, just makes more sense to me.

Hang on...

wait

You mean the Zombie attack hasn't happened yet?

I came to Ats months ago...
people were talking about the end of the world...

I looked outside

I saw everybody was blank and expressionless and

I thought it had started and we were the survivors

Even the president looks like a Zombie

Whats up?

I can go outside?

Those people aren't Zombies?

Wtf?

Good thing cus I'm almost out of PB & J

Make a fast acting and evolving rabies virus. ; )

reply to post by shidge.


The movie "The Signal" deals with the issue of manipulating our "fight or flight" response to create unthinking killers - when they kill. The beauty of the film is that after they kill they always think of a good justification for their irrational behavior. A great flick to see. (From T.H. Culhane)

reply to post by MegaBears


Ooo, that's a good one.

I saw a zombie once, one night I was driving down the street and there was this dude who was dong the whole "zombie stagger", I passed him and came up to a stop light, he started run/staggering towards my truck and I speed through the light and turned, scared the crap outta me.

On second thought, it was probably just a drunk homeless guy.

Ya know the bible talks about zombies a couple of times:

(this is supposed to happen either after Armageddon or during it)

Zechariah 14:12 (King James Version)

12And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

There's also a verse or two that talks about a prophet bringing a skeleton army to life to defend him from some bad guys.

-Lahara