Over the years, in our culture, the theme of zombies has developed and took a strong position.... Especially in last years popular is the idea of ​​a zombie apocalypse, in which the remnants of humanity are fighting for their place on the planet along with the walking dead, as in the TV series "The Walking Dead".

Most often, the appearance of the first revived corpse is not mentioned anywhere and the secret of how it all began is not revealed. In some scenarios of disaster films, the beginning of the apocalypse is an infectious disease.

The mutation of an organism occurs due to a pathogen transmitted from one person to another by a virus (as in "Resident Evil") through a bite.

Often, an accident at a secret facility or in a secret scientific laboratory, from where a deadly virus breaks out, turning people into the eternally hungry dead-cannibals ("28 days Later").

The appearance of aggressive zombies is also associated with magic, especially voodoo magic, due to which the zombie obeys someone's orders (as in the 1932 film "White Zombie") or in measures your body instill a demon or evil spirit... Also, one of the options for the appearance of zombies is recognized as "God's punishment", a kind of brain-burning option, where there is only one goal - to eat.

It has long been proven that they cannot exist in the real world, even despite the fascinating idea of ​​a zombie apocalypse; extreme survival in a scary fight against the supernatural strong enemy practically indestructible.

Despite the romanticism of this combination of circumstances - one-on-one with your own self and with a small group of people (if you're lucky), where you can find a connection with another person. Because now it's harder for people to find mutual language, to leave the Internet space and establish contact with someone live, it's another matter when everyone has no choice - romance!

Several good reason for which zombies cannot exist and be part of the real world basically. And only the power of magic can explain the existence of zombies.

1) First, often in films, literature and games, the zombie brain is completely dead, controlled solely by the reflex of endless hunger. But the body cannot function without the brain! A dead body retains only a few functions after death:

- the growth of hair and nails continues;
- the rate of growth of skin cells gradually decreases and stops with loss of blood circulation within a few days;

- urination may occur due to muscle weakening;
- after the cessation of the heartbeat, blood is collected in the lowest place, depending on the posture in which the person died, this can cause an erection, and during post-mortem relaxation and muscle contraction, ejaculation can also occur;

- defecation occurs due to weakening of the muscles and due to gases released in the body;
- reflex muscle movement associated with areas nervous system, which for some time after death can still remain active and send electrical signals to the muscles; while strong movement is impossible, small muscle spasms are noted;

- during the decay and activity of bacteria destroying the body, the amount of mucus and gases inside increases, and in combination with rigor mortis can sometimes lead to unpleasant and eerie sounds emanating from dead body as if the dead man "speaks";

- gases accumulating inside the body can also serve as an unpleasant and extremely rare phenomenon of childbirth in a female corpse. This happens if a woman was pregnant during her lifetime, but after death the corpse of the child was not removed from the mother's womb and was buried with her (they might not know about pregnancy, they did not have an autopsy, or because of religious beliefs they were buried together). The gases accumulated in the decomposing corpse lead to the posthumous expulsion of the fetus;

- Brain activity persists after cardiac arrest, the brain activity time can range from a few minutes to several days with certain medications and under certain circumstances, although if the heart starts beating again, more often than not, irreparable damage will be caused to the brain due to oxygen deprivation.

As you can see human body unable to continue functioning for too long after death, and his degree of performance is limited to a few reflexes and minimal bodily functions.

2) Secondly, a decomposing corpse, even if infected with a supervirus, cannot move, walk, and even more so run, even if some part of the brain is alive and continues to send impulses to the limbs, because muscle cells are dead and impulses do not reach neurons before muscle fibers, which in turn cannot shrink.

In rotting meat, the cells are dead, and any movement needs impulses. Even if the dead man is new and fresh, impulses to his cells will arrive more and more slowly, because without blood supply, the vital activity of the cells is impossible, therefore, they will die, and decomposition will begin.

3) The heart does not work - tissues are not supplied with oxygen, there are no important biochemical processes responsible for the production of energy, with the help of which the limbs move. In a body in which the heart and, accordingly, the lungs do not work, long-term aerobic processes, that is, movements, cannot take place, because there is no blood circulation, and there is no oxygen supply.

Hand twitching is muscle spasm, standing on two legs and moving is a complex and energy-consuming process, which, firstly, requires impulses from the brain, and, secondly, energy for movement.

At least in connection with these 3 important aspects, humanity will never comprehend the zombie apocalypse in all its glory. Do not loot you in the ruins of your city, fighting off aggressive walking carrion with a machete or a shotgun in your hands. Only magic, capable of moving even dead cells and a non-functioning brain, can raise a corpse from the grave and make it walk and attack others.

The closest to reality film about the zombie apocalypse - "28 weeks later." In the film, the virus that turns people into "zombies" was called a rage virus and did not kill its carriers, depriving them of control over their actions and giving them superpower, which is very similar to the rabies virus.

Also transmitted by saliva or by a bite, the virus infects the brain and spreads along the nerve pathways. Control emotions frontal lobes the brain, in deeply located regions of which there are areas responsible for primitive emotions such as aggression and hunger.

The part of the brain responsible for actions receives signals from them and controls these emotions by triggering the stop function. Obviously, when the brain is damaged, the stop functions stop working, which causes bouts of rage, and during aggression, hormones (testosterone, adrenaline, etc.) and enzymes are released that contribute to the appearance of superpower, which is already present in the potential of the human body.

Yes, do not forget that a person does not use all the potential inherent in us by nature. Yes, in extreme situations with powerful adrenaline rushes, people are able to run faster or lift heavy things that they would not normally be able to lift. In these cases, the body works for wear and tear, but this is the functioning of the body under the control of the brain.

Considering all of the above, based on scientific data on the topic of zombies and the zombie apocalypse, this problem can be dismissed as utter nonsense. True if physical world does not allow the possibility of the existence of zombies in reality, that is, the world of magic formulas.

In the world of magic, magic and spells, with work on the body and objects, everything is much easier. Here it is enough to whisper a spell, sprinkle a cunning powder on the fire, and any body changes its characteristics in the required direction. In this case, yes, here not only gnarled sticks charged with megatons of atomic energy are possible, but also zombie creatures are acceptable.

The theme of the transformation of a part of the Earth's population into bloodthirsty zombies that walk the streets of cities and hunt those who are still alive has been exciting the minds for many decades. Interest in zombies in recent times is gaining tremendous power, while the main supplier of stories about the dead continues to be the United States. It is here that they constantly ask themselves when the zombie apocalypse will take place and prepare hard for this day. The Pentagon has even developed a plan of action in case of such a phenomenon. Why this question worries people, we will try to figure it out today.

Apocalypse problem

The zombie apocalypse is a fantasy scenario of many horror films, where some viral infection transforms healthy people in the living dead, cannibals, who are aggressive, and this leads to the extinction of the world's population.

In 1968, real zombies in the form of bloodthirsty dead were introduced into culture thanks to the film "Night of the Living Dead". After this, the concept of the apocalypse began to act as standard samples that were applied to many areas of popular culture. The scenarios of the fictional apocalypse involve the invasion of zombies with an infectious virus like an epidemic of a real disease. The bite of a walking dead person contributes to the death of a person and his subsequent transformation into a monster that is eager to attack living people. The military and police cannot deal with such a massive threat, so those who survived must fight.

The script also describes how to defend against zombies. To do this, you need to find a weapon and a car in which to go to a deserted place and settle there. You must first stock up on food, clothing, water, medicines and various equipment.

Reality and zombies

Many scientists have developed a model of the zombie apocalypse as a viral epidemic of unknown origin, where they indicated that the existence of this problem would lead to the collapse of civilization. In 2011, a humorous instruction was published about what to do during the zombie apocalypse... This joke sparked public interest. Three years later, the Pentagon developed a plan to evacuate people from cities if such a disaster happened.

In Britain, scientists have calculated how long it will take until the complete destruction of mankind in the event of the apocalypse. According to their assumptions, over a hundred days, the number of people on earth will be two hundred people, and zombies - one hundred million individuals. They also found that, it will become global in twenty days. The chances of becoming infected in this case will be 90%, the dead themselves would have lived for twenty days, after which they were eliminated due to hunger and dehydration.

Preparing for the apocalypse

Today, almost everyone knows. They covered popular culture quickly enough, appearing in movies, books, video games, and so on. Americans have a deeply imprinted fear in their brains of the crowds of the dead who wish to feast on living flesh. Therefore, in many weapons stores, so-called anti-zombie kits began to appear, which included real knives, shotguns, and more.

The comedian released the Apocalypse Survival Guide, which formed the basis for the famous War of the Worlds Z movie. The Pentagon has developed a plan CONOP 888, which describes the actions to attack the zombies. Exercises are regularly held in Kansas, so everyone is ready for that moment. Also, this topic is highlighted by the means mass media periodically giving out news, which of course are ducks.

But most people tend to believe a fake, so they are seriously preparing for a massive epidemic. For example, several years ago it was reported that on the shore of about. St.Thomas, a male body was discarded with a skinned skin... Upon the arrival of the police, the drowned man stood up and attacked them. Law enforcement officers started shooting at the man, but this had no effect, so they began to retreat. One of the observers grabbed a pistol and shot the dead man in the head, from which he died. The body was taken away by the military, who later claimed to exist. A few years later, the Minister of Australia, before the date of the expected end of the world (12.12.2012), made a statement that she was ready to protect her people from the walking dead.

Solanum virus

Zombies are not the result of black magic or any other power. They come from a virus called Solanum. And whether there will be a zombie apocalypse depends on how quickly this virus spreads on the planet. This virus spreads through the blood from the site of entry to the brain. It uses frontal cells to copy data, which it then destroys. When this happens, all functions of the body stop, the brain does not die, but goes into a dormant state, and Solanum transforms the cells of the body into new organs. Formed new organism not dependent on oxygen. Upon completion of the mutation, the body revives, but it resembles a corpse. Some body functions remain, others function limitedly, and still others stop altogether. This new species is called a zombie - a representative of the living dead. Thus, the Solanum virus creates real zombies, it enters the bloodstream of a healthy person, causing certain mutations.

Survive by any means!

Survival is main goal at the apocalypse. When faced with the living dead, many abilities are required: first aid, weapon control, leadership, and more. Currently, many films are devoted to this topic, by revising which you can gain knowledge on how to survive and fight zombies. To eliminate such an individual, it is necessary to turn off its brain; no other ways of dealing with these creatures have been found.

the walking Dead

Today, almost everyone knows, These are the walking dead who embody evil. They are endowed with unmotivated rage, aggression towards the living, strong hunger, they walk in packs. Their brains are affected, the functions of the body do not work, the tissues are decomposed. But in all this there is no logic, such creatures are observed only in pop culture and have nothing to do with reality.

This zombie image was created for the plots of films for the purpose of the box office. After all, it is the dead who are most afraid of people who believe in the zombie apocalypse. Science refutes the possibility of the existence of such walking dead. So, it is proved that in dead body metabolic processes do not occur, there is no tissue regeneration, there is no biochemistry in it, which is capable of providing thinking, movement, reflexes and aggression itself. It follows that the zombie in real life will not be able to walk because they do not have it internal energy... Since the bonds between the tissues are very loose, they would simply fall apart. In addition, the dead have no digestion, so they cannot eat their victims.

Zombie man

This version is more realistic and somewhat suitable for modern times. According to some interpretations, a modern zombie obeys someone's orders, he is a person with an undermined mental health and memory. He is a kind of slave without consciousness and will, devoid of independence, and follows orders from the outside.

We know what a zombie apocalypse is from movies and books, but what if it's already here? In this case, the role of zombies is played by sectarians who blindly give their property to the sect, and in some cases commit murder and suicide. Manipulating the consciousness of a person, their leaders commit various illegal acts by the hands of other people. Also, those who blindly believe in political rhetoric can become zombified. Such a zombie apocalypse has already been in our history and took a huge number of lives - it was called fascism.

Infected people

Pop culture has created this kind of zombie, which corresponds to a healthy person infected with a dangerous virus, it makes him aggressive and hungry, has lost his common sense. Such a virus, according to some sources, is created in a military laboratory that is developing biological weapons. So the question is, when the zombie apocalypse begins, is highly relevant. In fact, such viruses already exist in nature and are familiar to many people.

Real viruses

V modern world there are several diseases. People who get them are somewhat zombie-like:

1. Toxoplasmosis is a disease that is transmitted from cats. Many studies that have been carried out on rats have shown that infected with this virus, they begin to eat themselves. This disease actually affects half of the globe... People with strong the immune system do not notice any symptoms, but those whose immunity is weakened, notice outbursts of anger and auto-aggression. Although toxoplasmosis has not turned anyone into a zombie to date.
2. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a disease of the cerebral cortex and neural nodes, which is dystrophic in nature. The human brain is damaged, hallucinations begin, dementia, loss of skills, inadequate thinking, rage appear. There is no cure for this disease, it can be hereditary and acquired. But this disease is unlikely to lead to a zombie apocalypse, since a person with such a disease dies within two years.
3. African trypanosomiasis occurs when a tsetse fly bites. The disease affects the central nervous system, there are bouts of hunger, accompanied by fatigue and lethargy. Perhaps this disease has created the image of a zombie among African peoples. But this disease is completely curable and will not lead to the apocalypse.

Zombies in modern culture

So ? Most likely never. Zombies are simply a promoted brand that is created to make money. This image symbolizes human phobias, something terrible that can be encountered in life. And many make money from these phobias. Today, almost everyone knows who zombies are, what they look like, what they eat and how to kill them. And it's all thanks modern culture: cinema and literature. In communication, the words "zombies", "apocalypse", "walking dead" and so on are increasingly used. Some universities around the world are studying zombies as a cultural phenomenon. Students are considering why they are filming lately great amount movies about these monsters, and what interests them common man... Every year in different countries of the world there is a procession of a large number of people disguised as the dead. Sociologists and psychologists are still studying this phenomenon.

Outcomes

Thus, the zombie in the modern world expresses human fears, from which it is impossible to escape. It is films that give rise to these phobias, which in many cases require medical treatment... And the apocalypse, most likely, will not come for the next hundred years.

Zombie brand. Zombies in pop culture are a construct that the industry needs as a dynamo for making money. This image expresses the deepest fear of a person: invincible, aggressive, stupid and sinister, with which one can face or what there is a danger of becoming, having lost oneself. And there are those who are ready to make money on this: they twisted the handle, and money went from the zombie machine to the film corporation. This image was recently used in a commercial for phones that take better pictures. human faces In the dark. The language entered stable expressions and memes: for example, "I am a zombie" or "Man is a wolf to man, and zombies are zombies zombies." Films with such a plot reflect classic pop-cultural consumption: we know it's harmful, but we buy again. This strange image is the quintessence of civilizational self-irony and collective anxiety.

The image of a zombie is reflected in its own way in different areas of world culture.

Cinema. The first film about zombies was released in 1932 by the production company of Viktor Halperin. It was called "White Zombie". The main role was played by Bela Lugosi. George Romero, who created the canon of this genre, said that he was inspired by Richard Matson's novel I Am Legend, although the novel was about vampires. Literature. Two contemporary works are of the greatest interest. In 2003, the book by the American writer Max Brooks "A Guide to Survival Among Zombies" was published. Film script " World War Z "with Brad Pitt in starring based on it. In 2009, American screenwriter, producer and writer Seth Graham-Smith released the mashup novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Games. Based on this novel, a video game was created where English ladies and gentlemen use oriental martial arts in the fight against zombies. And the tower defense game "Plants vs Zombies" earned its first million dollars in nine days after release. Mythology. The idea of ​​zombies also existed in Japanese mythology in the form of buso spirits. And in German-Scandinavian mythology there are two similar images - Draugr and Nachcerer. Philosophical zombie. This is the name of a thought experiment in the philosophy of mind. It is a hypothetical being, indistinguishable from a normal person, but lacks conscious experience or the ability to sense. (Have you noticed this: thinking that you hit, you automatically scream, and then you realize that it doesn't hurt? It's about the same thing.) Programming. A zombie process is a child process on a Unix system that has completed execution but is still on the list. operating system to read the exit code. Education. Zombies as a cultural phenomenon are studied in several universities and colleges around the world. For example, at Columbia College Chicago there is a course on "Zombies in Popular Media": students try to understand why there are so many films about zombies, and what is in this creepy idea interests people. The image of the zombie in sociology and psychology. Since 2001 in different places the world is "Zombie Walk" (Zombie Walk) - a massive march of people disguised as zombies. This phenomenon is also being studied by sociologists and psychologists.

The good zombie phenomenon. Recently, several films have appeared about kind, human or just kind zombies:

... “The warmth of our bodies” (“Warm Bodies”) is about a handsome zombie, whom love for a girl (although, probably, still the devoured brain of her boyfriend) makes a person again.

... "Fido" ("Fido" - the traditional dog name in the United States) is a satire on the theme "Who really should be classified as a zombie?"

... "A zombie named Sean" ( official translation the title is incorrect because "Shaun of the Dead" is a game with the title of the movie "Dawn of the Dead". The main character is called Sean, but his friend turns into a zombie. However, after that he remains a harmless bum with game console... Directed by Edgar Wright, this clever and caustic parody starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is almost a zombie take on Kinda Tough Pointers.

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HOW TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES THROUGH HISTORY

What is the good zombie phenomenon talking about? The movie zombie is going through a crisis of lack of personality.

Dead-end branch of cultural evolution. The zombie as a pop-cultural character is a "dead-end branch of evolution": the cinema cannot develop him as a character-personality. There will be no dramatic twists in the life of a movie zombie (well, except for a summarizing projectile to the brain), new love, career changes, weddings and the birth of children. He just has nothing to do. This cultural construct has two interests: eating and destroying - not enough for cinematic collisions.

Satire on this topic is present in the film "The Warmth of Our Bodies": in abandoned by people In the city of zombies, out of nothing to do, they return to routine life duties and even try to communicate with sounds.

Even if we assume that the "zombies won" in the movie: what will they do when everything is destroyed? In the sense of the cinematic plot and script, they can either quietly decompose under the bush, or grow kinder, grow wiser and become people again.

Cinematography has driven itself into a corner and is forced to turn back time: to bring zombies back to life (for example, through love, as in "Warm Bodies"), or at least to make him a passable couch member of society (as happened with Ed, a friend of Sean in "Shaun of the Dead ").

Another option is to think about people who, when faced with zombies, manifest the entire spectrum of the human and truly become human.

In general, the most interesting thing is not the zombie theme itself, but the phenomenon of the transformation of naive, and then "meat" zombie films into poetic thinking about a person, about what kind of illusions we live in. In fact, we are so carried away by the game that civilization constructs (and almost every one of us as a part of it) that we do not see "the world as it is." And the series "The Walking Dead" for the fifth season has been arranging for us an anatomical theater of our illusions.

The roads in megalopolises are empty, but no one is happy about this anymore. Standing everywhere expensive cars, but you will go further by horse. The main character, police officer Rick Grimes, tries his best to maintain reason and nobility, but the more stress, the more violently he reacts to the cruelty of those who are still alive, but have lost their humanity - has become a "walking dead" in fact. After the zombie apocalypse, the absurdity of racism and hostility is more clearly manifested. Groups of healthy people who survived in such a hell howl with each other for safety and food. And it turns out that it comes not only about canned food from the supermarket, but also about the people themselves, who are perceived by cannibals the same way we are now - animals on farms. An alcoholic is ready to risk himself and his comrades in order to snatch a bag with a bottle from a zombie. The farmer keeps his zombie family in a barn, hoping that there is a way to heal the dead and insists that the walkers be treated like human beings. A once peaceful, law-abiding person, faced with terrible things, becomes a psychopath who stores zombie heads in an aquarium, arranges a torture room and a Colosseum with zombies. But something human remains in him - he cares for a zombie daughter and later takes care of several living ones. Powerful ambitions and sadistic inclinations float out in the conditions of a disintegrated civilization and public morality. People keep track of the days without death and rejoice at the sign "30 days without incident". A man adapts to everything: a woman with a katana chops off the zombie's hands and jaws so that they cannot harm her, and leads her on chains - their smell makes her "invisible" to the crowds of the dead. Caught walkers are also used as a landing force against a hostile group, filling a truck with them. In essence, "The Walking Dead" is a reflection on what a person is capable of extreme conditions, what is the price of our civilization, why we do not value anything and miss so much while everything is fine with us.

Zombies ... Cute, poor zombies, they are killed, but they do not end, poor things. The very topic of the living dead is extremely delivering: everyone dislikes the idea that billions dead people rise from their graves and have to defend themselves. Many dudes stubbornly believe that all voodoo magic is bullshit, but in this post we will delve a little into the wrong steppe. A zombie may well still be alive, but at the same time he may absolutely not think anything. So fear, dear reader, today we will tell you why the zombie apocalypse is real and which scenarios are real the most.

2. Neurotoxins

There is indecent a large number of poisons that slow down almost all vital functions of the body. Only good doctor can understand whether a person is completely or only partially dead. An example of such poisons can be considered the poison of puffer fish. After poisoning, the victim is removed from the trance by special narcotic substances, loses memory and personality, turning into a real zombie. By the way, all that talk about Haiti and the zombie workers of the plantation is the real truth, especially considering the fact that they are quite alive, but submissive and dumb as a traffic jam.

3 rabies virus

Like 28 Days Later. In fact, quite myself the real thing especially considering that there is mad cow disease in the world. Check if you have any of his symptoms:

• change in gait;
• hallucinations;
• problems with coordination (for example, stumbling and falling);
• twitching muscles;
• myoclonic seizures or seizures;
• rapidly developing delusions or dementia.

Given that such a virus is transmitted through blood and saliva, it can be considered quite real threat zombie invasion. Only now it is rarely found in nature. But aggression with a desire to break and bite will be available.

4. Neurogenesis, stem cells and other joys of science

With the help of stem cells, it is absolutely possible to renew the human brain, according to at least this is where everything goes. And here just came the time of real paranoia for lovers of zombification. Let them replace arms and legs, but the crippled brain, rebuilt with cells with the same defects as its "mother's brain", will be just as incapacitated, but it will be new. Also, the body can be kept in suspended animation for some time, but the resuscitation of this person can bring with it certain problems due to the destruction of the cerebral cortex. Let the human brain be new, but the connections in it will be lost, the personality degrades to the state of a child, you will have to re-teach him everything, but he will be happy to watch TV series on the Russian zombie. Simply put, it will be a zombie, because he will not have a personality, but he will be obedient and submissive.

5. Nanobots

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Nanotechnology is being developed not only in Russia. Small agile robots will be able to build inside a person in the near future small town or destroy your host. Why can't these babies break the connections in the human brain? Yes Easy! Check out Stanislav Lem's good science fiction novel Invincible about little nanobots. Suppose that bots remain in our bodies after death, what should they reanimate your body? Imagine that there will be as many such bots in human bodies as there are leukocytes. Fearfully? Terrible!

Zombies are the eternal favorites of the public. Why else would science fiction writers and Hollywood screenwriters return to them over and over again? And now scientists are also interested in the revived dead ...

MODELS OF VIRAL APOCALYPSE

What happens if the pathogen is any dangerous disease break free? How long will humanity have to be saved? And is salvation possible? These questions were asked by a group of scientists led by Russian biologists and virologists. And in order to answer them more fully and vividly, scientists took the "ordinary zombie" as the causative agent, keeping in mind its exceptional infectious ability. The zombie invasion is very similar to the spread of real diseases, and this made them a convenient subject for research by epidemiologists.

By the way, the results obtained have already been useful to virologists and physicians who are forced to withstand real epidemics: Ebola and bird flu.

Further - more: the model of Russian virologists formed the basis for the work of Canadian researchers from the University of Ottawa. They mathematically modeled the spread of diseases such as HIV, malaria, the West Nile virus, and at the same time gave out their version of the capture of humanity by the living dead. The results of their work were presented in scientific work"Mathematical modeling of zombies."

CRITICAL DEMOGRAPHY

Usually, in horror and disaster movies, a person very quickly turns into a zombie after being bitten. So, in the "War of the Worlds Z" the count goes literally by seconds. But the symptoms of real diseases, such as HIV, may appear not even after a month, but many years after infection. In addition, during the invasion of zombies, according to horror films, people attack the living dead. This fundamentally contradicts the course of an ordinary pandemic, because people are not trying to destroy carriers of the infection. However, the Canadian zombie model takes into account all these nuances. The researchers applied the results obtained in the model of the spread of the human papillomavirus and even achieved some success.

In the course of the research, the Canadians also confirmed the main forecast of the Russians, according to which on a certain day after the start of the zombie apocalypse and the rapid spread of undead across the Earth, the number of people will decrease to a critical demographic point. After that, the re-population of the planet by humanity will become very problematic.

POINT OF NO RETURN: CALCULATIONS

But how many days will be given to humanity? Several mathematicians and physicists from British University Lester, having familiarized himself with the work of Russian and Canadian scientists, decided to calculate the value of the critical point human population followed by the death of our civilization. They compared their findings with the consequences of outbreaks of incurable and deadly diseases such as Ebola.

British scientists called their computer project "The Perfect Zombie Pandemic". According to their scenario, the speed of development of the zombie apocalypse is determined by two main parameters: the speed of the process of "zombification" of a living person and the duration of the existence of the walking dead.

The writers and screenwriters describing this process paint completely different pictures. If you believe one, then the infection is almost instantaneous and guaranteed, but the zombies themselves live no more than a month. Others only spend several hours on the infection process, and only further life zombies are measured for decades - and yet without any food.

Considering the consequences of such "outbreaks of zombie pandemics", British experts decided to create their own scenario of catastrophic events. To do this, they turned to historical data about the worst epidemic in the history of mankind - the outbreak of plague in the XIV century. This terrible pandemic, called the Black Death, devastated medieval Europe and weakened her so much southeastern region that made possible the Turkish invasion.

In a modern zombie scenario, infection with a "bloody contact" with a virus carrier occurs with a 90 percent probability, and the walking dead themselves lead an active way of existence for no more than three weeks and "crumble to dust" after all internal resources have been used up.

A HUNDRED DAYS OF EARTH

For their calculations, scientists took the total population of the Earth from real demographic indicators - about 7.5 billion people. In addition, the British model for the spread of zombies took into account the existence of borders between countries and the extremely uneven population density. For example, zombies received the right to cross the border of the country where they became infected, only having reached the number of at least 10 thousand individuals. If zombies could not reach such a population, they simply died out, as happens during local epidemics.

As these calculations showed, in a densely populated area, one infected person is enough for a large-scale epidemic to break out. This will happen on the 20th day after the first infection. And in 100 days only 181 people and about 190 million zombies will live on Earth.

Even if people flee the areas affected by the zombie pandemic, the infection will still prevail. The most optimistic scenario on the 100th day leaves only 273 people alive and about a million undead.

In either case, the number of survivors will be much lower than the level that is necessary to repeat the history of mankind and new colonization planets.

An epidemic in New York was simulated as an example. The central regions there fell in one day, but the suburbs had at least a month to prepare for the invasion of the dead. In any case, if the ideal zombie pandemic lasts longer than 100 days, humanity will be doomed to extinction ...

For the same reason, the safest place when zombies attack will be the mountains and hilly terrain where the population density is minimal. Therefore, the optimal tactic for survivors is as follows: go to the mountains at the first reports of the appearance of the living dead.

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