Behavior and abilities

[Guest GunTroll]

So how do you figure they will/would be? Fast moving as in 28 days? Slow moving like old school films such as return of the dead, etc? A blend? What about the ability to learn? I'm not talking math but rather like jumping over a fence instead of bumping into it over and over.

I assume whatever physical shape one becomes a zombie in, is how they will continue to be. Like a fat ars zombie can't suddenly have nimble ninja skills and visa versa. I also assume they will adapt to specific problems and slowly solve them, much like the fence scenario I mentioned above. I'm thinking muscle memory type stuff here.

What say you?

[Guest brandon_pitt]

I am thinking with lack of blood flow, nerves, and brain function, zombies will not be able to learn anything, will have no muscle memory and will get stuck at that fence ( continually bumping into it as I am plinking them off, one by one).

[Guest GunTroll]

what about speed? There seems to be varying opinions on this in Hollywood.

[Guest brandon_pitt]

I am gonna have to go on a limb and say without blood and brain activity, they will not be able to walk and ,if they do, not very fast or very far before the lactic acid builds up in their muscles and they get leg locked.(This is assuming they will get far before i plink them off)

[JAB]

My guess is that any chance of 'real' zombies lies not with reanimated corpses but possibly with some kind of virus, chemical attack, etc. that causes normal, living people to turn into total psychos. Maybe something like a highly communicable form of rabies - sort of like what is discussed in this National Geographic article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/1001027-rabies-influenza-zombie-virus-science/ . Maybe a purposefully weaponized version of rabies or a similar virus. They wouldn't be any faster or slower than any other, living human. They wouldn't have 'superhuman' strength but would probably have a strength born of rage. My guess is that they would be about as 'tough' as a person hopped up on cocaine, PCP or some other, similar drug - again, not superhuman but probably working at about the limits of human 'toughness' and harder to stop/kill than normal.

Their reasoning skills would be in line with normal, human reasoning though slightly impaired by their condition and the aforementioned 'rage'. The good thing is that headshots would not be a requirement. The bad thing is that you'd have to shoot normal, everyday people who were simply sick rather than simply sending reanimated cadavers back to the realm of the dead.

Just my guess.

Edited June 23, 2011 by JAB

[et45]

^^^^^ I agree,much like the people in 28 Days/Weeks and The Crazies.Those people were not zombies IMO because they were not dead before the transformation

[Caster]

Yep, think I am Legend. They weren't zombies per se, a virus induced psychotic episode [permanent]. I think that a virus that could cause body temps to temporarily rise high enough to severely damage the brain, but then level off enough to allow continued body function???

The rabies idea is plausible, or a virus that SPECIFICALLY targets the brain; Destroying all rational cognitive functions but continuing to run on sheer primal instinct to survive. Basically undoing modern man and reverting him to cave man.

[JAB]

Of course, as an alternate to a virus, we could look to the real root of 'zombie' legends - so-called 'voodoo' zombies. There is evidence that there have been (maybe still are) real cases of such 'zombies'. There is even a fairly well-known book, written by an ethnobotanist (which was the very loose basis for a much less realistic movie of the same name) called 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' which looked at (among other things) a possible, modern zombie case. Apparently, the 'zombie' state is brought on and maintained by giving the victim some sort of traditional drug/chemical cocktail and will possibly end, with the victim reverting to normal, if the drugs aren't administered regularly.

Again, if such a mix of drugs/chemicals were weaponized and optimized for military/terrorist purposes I wonder if the condition could be made permanent without a need for subsequent doses. Also, my understanding is (assuming that there really is some basis in truth for the legend) that the intent of the 'voodoo' priest is to create a relatively docile, controllable 'zombie' who can carry out basic, menial tasks. Some of the drugs initially administered make the victim 'appear' dead while subsequent drugs keep the victim under control. What if some of the ingredients were changed so that, instead of a docile, controllable victim the result was an enraged, violent one. A sicko who wanted to bring about a disaster might start off by simultaneously releasing the toxins in, say, a few maximum security prisons (where tendencies toward violence in at least a significant portion of the population could aid in getting the desired outcome - they probably wouldn't stay in those prisons long) as well as in some densely populated areas (New York, L.A., Atlanta) and let the horror ensue.

Edited June 24, 2011 by JAB

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Yep, think I am Legend. They weren't zombies per se, a virus induced psychotic episode [permanent]. I think that a virus that could cause body temps to temporarily rise high enough to severely damage the brain, but then level off enough to allow continued body function???

The rabies idea is plausible, or a virus that SPECIFICALLY targets the brain; Destroying all rational cognitive functions but continuing to run on sheer primal instinct to survive. Basically undoing modern man and reverting him to cave man.

Just the high fever wouldn't reliably create a malevolent person. It would most likely just lower the IQ. One time at the psychiatric hospital was a nice young fellow who was an avid backpacker. He got tick fever hiking alone in the boonies and spent a long time in his tent with a high fever. By the time he was rescued, he didn't have much remaining reasoning capacity. He remained a very nice guy but needed daily assistance to get by.

Maybe it wouldn't be impossible to have a virus which attacks specific parts of the brain? Even worse if the virus could induce rage without impairment of reasoning? Imagine a president and staff sick with the virus, fully competent but royally peed-off, staring at the nuclear football sitting there on the whitehouse desk.

The brain has activation pathways and inhibitory pathways. If it is the case that viruses are most able to destroy rather than strengthen, then such a virus may need to selectively destroy neural centers which inhibit rage while leaving rage activation centers intact?

Constant long-term administration of low doses amphetamine is a very reliable way to induce temporary paranoid psychosis in most humans. Some experiments managed to get 100 percent temporary psychosis within 1 to 3 days of treatment. Tiny hourly doses of amphetamines. The temporary psychosis typically wears off after a good night's sleep of course.

Possibly the same psychosis could be accomplished via long-term elevation of the body's natural adrenaline? Maybe there could be a virus which does not target the brain, but messes up the adrenal system? If the virus permanently increases a person's adrenaline level it might lead to an epidemic of paranoid psychotics walking among us? That would be more fear than rage, but could have a similar end result. If a paranoid person believes that people are plotting to kill him, then in his altered mental state it makes perfect sense to kill the other people first.

[Garufa]

My entire strategy depends on slow movers. Those crazed, high-speed freaks will have me running like a little girl.

[dou44]

i will just shut the gate and shoot them as they pile up om the fence.i have 1 1/2 acres and my house is in the middle of it.good view all the way around my place.