" Zombie outbreak would be 'disastrous': mathematicians"

OTTAWA -- A team of Canadian mathematicians have been picking their large, delectable brains over whether humankind could survive a zombie apocalypse.

Their conclusion?

"An outbreak of zombies infecting humans is likely to be disastrous, unless extremely aggressive tactics are employed against the undead," says the paper, titled When Zombies Attack! Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection.

"Thus, if zombies arrive, we must act quickly and decisively to eradicate them before they eradicate us."

"If you look at it in a more realistic way, zombies are about the same as any other major infectious disease - they get out and we try to eliminate them," said Joe Imad, a University of Ottawa mathematics student and one of the paper's co-authors. "Modelling zombies would be the same as modelling swine flu, with some differences for sure, but it is much more interesting to read."

link

seriously? this is actually being STUDIED?

i have to say this is the FUNNIEST news article I have read in...well maybe ever!

on the other hand, this study could be on how to contain and eliminate other threats under cover, threats like, oh i don't know, say h1n1...

S & F for you!

Dude, I have been thinking that the zombie stuff is a total reality. We got to be prepared for the real war on our doorstep, the war against the dead kind!

SVE

reply to post by Animal


Well I think if 'zombie' was an actual condition, it could get pretty crazy, I only played world of warcraft for 2 months before quitting forever but in the 2 months I played they had rats that carried a zombie infection and players got it and passed it on, and even in that virtual world the infestation got so out of hand that players actually complained to the company, claiming it was ruining their gameplay, it was literally the funnest thing about the game, but they took it out a few days later. Before you assume my reference isn't relevant there was an article paralleling that game, viruses in the game and viruses in real life, perhaps one could build a virtual world with the main purpose being to simulate reality in a more realistic way, with 'gameplay' being less of a factor than the natural evolution of the world.

i think you guys are thinking of the greatest zombie game ever the resident evil series man that game made chills run up my spine an in each game the virus keeps mutating anyone who hasnt played it yet try resident evil 6

reply to post by Razimus


That is interesting that you mentioned they did that in a game. When you really think about it an online virtual world like WOW is pretty close to real life, in a certain way, the way people interact with each other and travel all across the world.

Could be used as a kind of testing ground, when you think about it. But a Zombie outbreak would be horrible in real life.

Just bash em in the head with a bit of wood.
That seems to work out.

reply to post by Razimus


i was around WoW when the virus hit.

blizz created it, but it got 'out of hand' and spread out of control and had to be eliminated form the game because it was messing everything up.

it was so contagious it surpasses blizz's intended program for it.

it was AWESOME and i totally see the parallel.

reply to post by Animal


What I think would be the worst part about it is that the virus keeps spreading by the infected person, most viri today die when the host dies so eventually eliminates itself, with a zombie virus the host would keep going and feeding until something killed the host.

It's a really scary thing when you think about it.

I can see it as being metaphoric. Zombies could be an allegory for the types of people that the Mathematicians don't like for example. They could be giving out "secret" information. Mathematicians are pretty ingenious IMO. You never know, it is what you make out of it.

reply to post by Animal


Zombies are a threat to the free world and the arithmetic experts understand this very well 1-1=0+1=1z Canada as usual is at the forefront of this study as it is on many other cutting edge things.

Originally posted by reptilianslayer
i think you guys are thinking of the greatest zombie game ever the resident evil series man that game made chills run up my spine an in each game the virus keeps mutating anyone who hasnt played it yet try resident evil 6

The real deal neal...

www.youtube.com...

I beg to differ. One quick stop at the local armory and it would be a walk in the park.


New zombie flick coming out, if you havent seen the trailer, head over to apple trailers or yahoo hd trailer for "the carriers"

I am so looking forward to the coming zombie apocalypse!
Get those automatic rifles, shotguns, and chainsaws ready folks!!!

A lifetime of zombie movies has prepared me, no doubt about it.

reply to post by commoncents


Actually I'd say Left 4 Dead (and its upcoming sequel) easily blow Nazi Zombies out of the water. After all NZ is just a mini-game...

Left 4 Dead

As for the OP, I've read my Zombie Survival Guide, so I'm good to go if the undead horde descends upon me...

Read Me, I have answers.
An excellent zombie survival thread - thanks libra

It's interesting that this is being studied - then again, I guess the pop culturalists require someway to entertainment their imaginations..

Still, I'm taking notes...

Nice find Animal

here is a song I wrote about Zombies.

www.youtube.com...

All you do to kirb a zombie out break is to get thousands of people with nice juicy brains to sacrifice (you know people who are easy to catch and put in cages, I'm thinking children, prisoners (already in cages ) the elderly, the disabled, the dumb and the drunk - basically no one who can run faster than the people trying to catch them)...

Then you get hundreds of cages and have a few of your sacrificial lambs in them - actually a double cage would be good, 2 layers of bars a bit more than an arms length apart.

Now here is the genius bit - you then helicopter the baited cages into zombie hot spots, you lure all the zombies in an area to the cages and they try to get the little girls brains, but they can't reach.

When you think you have the maximum amount of undead in one spot them you open up from the air with mini guns and bombs and stuff - zombie bits every where - and it only cost you a couple of little girls - and little girls are annoying anyway

reply to post by Animal



At least it was Canadian taxpayer money at work and not the U.S.

All you have to do it hit them in the head and don't get bitten..........Duh.

Nah, a zombie outbreak in the U.S. wouldn't be TOO bad. I imagine that as long as a quarantine zone could be established, terminal infectious disease protocols would be followed, eradicating the threat.

Originally posted by Griever0311
Nah, a zombie outbreak in the U.S. wouldn't be TOO bad.

Ha. They could just declare hunting season on zombies and pay the bounty in beer.