Zombie Vs Machine... your thoughts?

[Red_Dazes]

...I just saw Terminator and refuse to spoil it for those who haven't. so Please do not put them in the comments...

But I can't decide which would be more terrifying... Zombie Apocalypse or Machine Apocalypse.

What do you think?

[crashhelmet]

I'd say Zombie. Eventually, the machines would have to run out of power or resources where Zombies keep multiplying with the number of people they infect.

But then again, if the machines took over everything, like our home appliances too, or even got into cybernetics, we'd never know if we were safe or not. Your coffee machine might try to kill you. I guess it's a good thing I don't drink coffee ;p

CH

[Sliceanddice]

zombies, because AI is more a distant possiblilty than biological warfare.

[ArcticChicken]

Machine.

The zombie apocalypse isn't an apocalypse so much as a fun couple of weeks while you wait for the army to come in and clean things up.

Seriously, they're the walking dead, if you can power walk you can avoid the zombies.

Besides, there wouldn't be as many zombies as you see in the movies. Zombies are always after you for your brains, and it's been proven time and again that if you destroy the brain the zombie goes down permanently. So, most of the people dumb enough to be caught by the zombies would not rise again. Maybe, maybe one in five hundred people would turn into zombies.

The 2000 census puts the population of Philadelphia at 1,517,550. That would make that just over 3035 zombies in Philadelphia, if you factor children under 10 and grownups over 75 into your calculations. Since I don't believe most people in those age brackets could escape the zombies if caught, that makes the population for the calculation 1,200,604, or 2401 likely zombies. In all of Philadelphia.

So it would just be a couple weeks holding up in a mall somewhere waiting for the cavalry to come in and save our asses. Then life would be back to normal. Even if you allow for running zombies, there still would be a low zombie population, thus not a huge.

I also have several zombie contingency plans, and am absolutely confident of my ability to survive the zombie apocalypse.

As you can tell, I've put way to much thought into this.

[Red_Dazes]

As you can tell, I've put way to much thought into this.

Indeed you have! My zombie apocalypse plan goes something like this

"SHIT SHIT RUN!!! OMG LIVING DEAD! KEYS KEYS WHERE ARE MY F****ING KEYS!!"
...FAIL!

I'm a realist... I know I'd be that person at the very start of the movie that gets eated... I make no false assumptions.

[Dave1982]

I must admit to not understanding this whole fascination with zombies. Then again, there are things that fascinate me that others find utterly boring, if not downright weird.

That having been said.....I think each is equally terrifying. I find the Machine Apocalypse to be more plausible, but the Zombie Apocalypse to be less likely but more unstoppable.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I'm still going to go with zombie, despite the impressive arguement that ArcticChicken has tabled.

Thing is, zombies didn't start shouting 'brains' until the 1985 movie "Return of the Living Dead", which was more of a horror/comedy than a straight horror. Before that, zombies were after meat... and the meat they found stood up and started staggering around with them (unless they were torn apart like that poor SOB at the end of "Day of the Dead"... remember him shouting "CHOKE ON 'EM!"?)

Taking that into account, let's change the equation of '1 zombie per 500 dead' to something more like '1 zombie per 50 dead'... that makes 30000 zombies in Philly.

1 in 10? 150.000 zombies...

And that's not even taking into account WHAT animated the zombies... which might be worse...

Plus, I saw "Zombi 2"... Zombie vs. Shark? Zombie wins.

[ArcticChicken]

You have a point, but I stand by my argument.

Even if the zombies are only after meat, they're not gonna take just one bite and move on, and a zombie needs to be relatively intact to prove any kind of threat.

And that's not even taking into account WHAT animated the zombies...

I'm assuming disease or chemical zombies here. Even though people would have no acquired immunity, transmission rates wouldn't be 100%, even if the zombies left the bodies intact enough to be a threat when animated.

And I still think 30,000 zombies isn't too much to handle for a couple of weeks.

[Miyon]

You asked what would be "more terrifying"

I pick Zombies only because I just love zombie movies and they still give me an occasional nightmare.

But really, most zombie movies have a fatal flaw that a Machine apocalypse wouldnt have.

You get killed or turned into a zombie by getting bitten. So why not wear clothes that are a little bit bite proof. The people in zombie always have on like jeans and a t-shirt. Heck just throw on some cowbow boots, leather pants, two layers of shirts and a leather jacket and any kind of leather like neck piece and a motorcycle helm. Only way of death then is a hugh ass zombie crowd that pulls you apart.

In a Machine apocalypse dont matter what you do except hide really well. You're going to die. Machines will just blow you away or tear you apart.

So in actual badness, I would go with machine, but more terrifying, ZOMBIES!

[Mr Slugger]

See my view is that both zombie and machine apocalypse wouldn't happen the way it does in the movies.

The zombie way I mean the military would do a far better job at killing them than they do in the movies. And if there was a pocket of them say in a town, they'd just get everyone out of there and bomb it. Plus I mean one helicopter with a chain gun could take out a huge crowd of them. Like Miyon said wearing stuff like say riot gear no zombie is getting through it. Now if they were smart zombies we might have a problem.

The machine way I don't think that machines have come far enough yet. I do think that the nuke part of it would happen if we're not careful. But from my understanding on AI is that they've adopted Asimov's three rules into AI programs, because you can never be too careful. But I just don't think even if it did happen that the machines could make enough machines to fight. I mean you gotta think about it the machines would have to mine, refine, and build the machines, so maybe they start out with some military tanks, and maybe take over the auto plants to build machines, but those would be the first places humans destroy before they could be used by the machines. And lastly I'm sure someone could cause some emps that would take out large amounts of machines.

But back to the question. I think out of the picks (aliens should be here too) zombies would be the one I'd pick. Because well the zombies wouldn't destroy everything, and it would be better to have say the gun department at the local walmart still standing

[Red_Dazes]

*mr snippy snip was here** (aliens should be here too)

Hmm... never even considered aliens... More to ponder now I suppose. Guess that tells you the kind of movies I watch the most! hehe!

[artifical sweetner]

i;d be more excited by a zombie apocolypse

i was so sad to hear it was swine flu and not zombies taking over

[dmcglu82]

I'm going to say zombie, but what kind of zombie apocalypse are we talking, Night of the Living Dead, slow lumbering zombie who can't think or talk, or Return of the Living Dead, running, thinking, talking zombies who are only after brains. If its Night of the Living Dead zombies then I would not be as worried shoot them in the head or behead them. If its Return of the Living Dead zombies then I'm heading for the nearest deserted island cause shooting them in the head or cutting the head off will not keep the zombie from coming after you. If Tarman is apart of the zombie horde I want to be the one to beat him with the baseball bat that zombie creeps me out big time.

[wagegoth]

If they're zombies like Resident Evil running, screaming, massive-weaponry-required-to-destroy zombies, then I would rather deal with a machine apocalypse. Real zombies, like the ones in Haiti, definitely go for a zombie apocalypse. They'd just wander about until they dropped dead, or I could adopt them for cheap, manual labor.

[Sliceanddice]

my zombie apocalypse plan is-
omg zombies, grab something heavy now!!! swing swing swing get to Kino because it has tempered glass, heavy iron doors, books, and heavy iron gates. Did i mention books? oh and i guess food....