As the title says. I personally think it's possible. As they say, nothing is impossible. I think it's improbable, certainly. I just wanted to know what you guys think.

Anything is possible.

That's why I always have my sword at the ready.

I've seen footage of violence and rioting in third world countries. Can't be too much different than that.

ippiki_ookami said:
I've seen footage of violence and rioting in third world countries. Can't be too much different than that.

Sure. It's exactly the same. You know, other than the fact that you're likely to get FUCKING EATEN. In all seriousness, though, It isn't all that different, just a lot worse. I mean, can you imagine the smell zombies emit? Not to mention, their moans would drive you nuts.

JoeX said:
Sure. It's exactly the same. You know, other than the fact that you're likely to get FUCKING EATEN.

No, he was talking about third world countries. I'm pretty sure that happens. The TV tells me they're pretty hungry over there.

I doubt it, especially in America. Heat would make the zombies decay so fast that they'd just be body parts on the ground after a while. Plus wild animals and people with weapons. Not looking good for zombies.

Some kind of fucked up rabies equivalent that is uncurable, targets humans, and makes them fucking ballistic and difficult to kill. It would pretty much turn the world into L4D but without the mutants.

Other than that, not too plausible, and that itself isn't too plausible.

This is assuming you dont believe in crazy shit like actual necromancy or something. You never know.

A disease that wipes everyone/nearly everyone out is likely, it's happened before. But zombies? Definitely not if you mean actual risen dead. And not even a disease if it was as limited a contagion that you had to be bitten by someone with it to spread, something airborne would be a different story of course. Either way the survivors (probably people with accidental genetic immunity like in L4D) would only have to wait until the rabid infected either starved to death and/or died from exposure/self-inflicted harm. Which would probably take what, a week or two? Though something like that could bring down civilization as we know it.

JustFrame said:
Some kind of fucked up rabies equivalent that is uncurable, targets humans, and makes them fucking ballistic and difficult to kill. It would pretty much turn the world into L4D but without the mutants.

Other than that, not too plausible, and that itself isn't too plausible.

This is assuming you dont believe in crazy shit like actual necromancy or something. You never know.

Ratty said:
A disease that wipes everyone/nearly everyone out is likely, it's happened before. But zombies? Definitely not if you mean actual risen dead. And not even a disease if it was as limited a contagion that you had to be bitten by someone with it to spread, something airborne would be a different story of course. Either way the survivors (probably people with accidental genetic immunity like in L4D) would only have to wait until the rabid infected either starved to death and/or died from exposure/self-inflicted harm which would probably take what, a week or two? Though something like that could bring down civilization as we know it.

You guys are talking about the infected in Left 4 Dead instead of 28 Days Later? For shame. For shame. >:(

I wanna see a zombie "apocalypse" start (and most likely, end) in an extremely arctic location. Freezer burned undead make for a less-horrifying thought.

Actini said:
I wanna see a zombie "apocalypse" start (and most likely, end) in an extremely arctic location. Freezer burned undead make for a less-horrifying thought.

Three words. Zombies with parkas. And thermal pants and, well you get the idea. :P

As much as I hate linking to Cracked.com, I'm going with this:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html

Wahai said:
As much as I hate linking to Cracked.com, I'm going with this:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html

Supposing zombieism were an actual supernatural effect and not a biological one, many of those points become moot:

7. Supernatural zombies are often seen coexisting quite well with insects, almost as if there were some kind of symbiotic relationship at play. They also terrify any normal animal into fleeing.
6. There's no reason a supernatural zombie would stop because they dessicate...
5. ...or freeze.
4. It's supernatural, so biting can be a perfectly valid method of transmission.
3. This point remains valid, but only to the extent that supernatural zombies take damage or are dependent on their musculature (maybe they eventually turn into walking skeletons). Also, supernatural zombies don't seem to require sensory organs, so arguments about microscopic eye scratches are moot.
2. Human nature works against us here. Family members and significant others tend to try to help each other and are generally unwilling to give up on each other until the very last possible instant. So I suspect many supposed "strongholds" would become infected.
1. Militaries would probably be the last to realize how to kill zombies (assuming the standard "shoot them in the head" is the only plausible course of action). I liked the picture painted in World War Z: When the zombie horde arrives, the army lays out every advanced weapon they can offer, which do lots of damage but to all the wrong places on the zombies' bodies, so the z-men keep coming, the soldiers panic, and it becomes a massacre.

ikdind said:
Supernatural

The list was working closer to the realistic end of the zombie spectrum. We're talking Frankentstein monster-esque SCIENCE!-powered zombies.

In order for supernatural zombies to exist, supernatural has to exist first. :|

Oh, I was also working on a list to counter an infection disease perspective, too, but didn't want to flood the thread.

Cracked's list is entertaining, but not well thought out. In the case of an infectious disease, many of their arguments also become invalid because they're prefixed on Romero-style zombies, which I'd say are pretty much the bottom of the zombie food chain. I think the panic and chaos portrayed in the movie "I Am Legend" from the initial outbreak scenes would be reasonable.

Edit: And yes, I know, the zombies in "I Am Legend" are actually basically vampires in the book, etc., etc. But even without super-human abilities, a basic notion of "man-rabies" which crosses a junked out pain-resistant drug addict with a mean hunger for human flesh, with something like a couple days of gestation before a sudden full outbreak of symptoms, could result in a serious health problem for the human species.

oh yes

totally possible

100% legit

shit made up for a bad romero movie is completely supported by science

null0010 said:
oh yes

totally possible

100% legit

shit made up for a bad romero movie is completely supported by science

What he said.
Given, this is -not- going to happen, it's kinda cute to watch people squabble over it. It's like saying "Werewolves are better than vampires," since neither really exist.

vampires are cooler man

Maybe once the movie industry came about, but in the classical legends werewolves kick the crap out of vampires.

i cast dementation 8 (prison of the mind) on your FACE >:|

Vampires are cooler than werewolves.
Okay null, there's my $10?

ippiki_ookami said:
Vampires are cooler than werewolves.
Okay null, there's my $10?

i'll mail it to you

null0010 said:
i cast dementation 8 (prison of the mind) on your FACE >:|

null's a Malkavian? That explains a lot :P but yeah werewolves4evar.

I say the only way this *could* be even remotely possible is if we had a bunch of cannibals who somehow got mixed in with a strain of both leprosy and rabies. Not quite zombies, but they have two deadly diseases which are both highly contagious, and rabies can cause enough psychological trama to the patient that they could hypothetically go mad, causing them to go on a violent killing spree, while they're also rotting away due to the leprosy. But I do not believe people can come back from the dead and kill people, because first off, the muscle mass of a dead person is decayed enough that technically they would be unable to move for any great distance without the muscles seizing up and causing the body to collapse, and due to embalming fluids which are used in everyone that dies now days, even if the body is to be cremated, would cause a mummification of sorts and make the body too dried out to be able to so much as twitch.

Ratty said:
null's a Malkavian? That explains a lot :P but yeah werewolves4evar.

malkavian? don't be silly. i'm clearly a kiasyd who diablerized a malkavian methuselah

null0010 said:
malkavian? don't be silly. i'm clearly a kiasyd who diablerized a malkavian methuselah

Gesundheit.

Yeah because people will spontaneously come back from the dead as blood-thirst voracious flesh eating monstrosities. Very possible.

7. Supernatural zombies are often seen coexisting quite well with insects, almost as if there were some kind of symbiotic relationship at play. They also terrify any normal animal into fleeing.

Actually, insects do make up for the majority of the current "biological" zombies (generally insects, fungi, or bacteria/viruses), so it's not as far-fetched as it would seem.

But the worst kind are those with long gestation periods, no instant-switch, and CROSS_SPECIES.

1) Long gestation period: carriers become hard to detect. Even worse if carriers have no known cure but are still sane, expect rebellion if you take conventional anti-zombie measures against them.
2) When the symptoms aren't quite as obvious, expect paranoia.
3) Sure you can easily stop humans from infecting others, but when birds come into play... well you know how long it took to deal with "bird flu"... Even worse if it's insects, which are far harder to control than avians.

On a seperate note: no, "people coming back from the dead" is unlikely. But people being effectively brain-dead, but still posing a threat, is entirely viable.

Ratty said:
A disease that wipes everyone/nearly everyone out is likely, it's happened before. But zombies? Definitely not if you mean actual risen dead. And not even a disease if it was as limited a contagion that you had to be bitten by someone with it to spread, something airborne would be a different story of course. Either way the survivors (probably people with accidental genetic immunity like in L4D) would only have to wait until the rabid infected either starved to death and/or died from exposure/self-inflicted harm. Which would probably take what, a week or two? Though something like that could bring down civilization as we know it.

Zombies will not starve, they only feed cuz after the brain is infected, it is reduced to primitive instincts. Feed is all they do. Do they need to feel, no. Seeing as how the body shuts down, the digestive system wilk not work. food will be forced down untill the guts burst or it is “pooped” out. Read world war z and zombie survival guide, they have all the info needed on the subject.