I like zombies, or rather, I like killing them. I shoot hundreds of them every week on my Xbox while playing Half Life, Oblivion and Dead Space. And how many films have been filmed about them! Obviously, we like it when zombies scare us. I think the secret of their popularity is that they are very creepy (if done correctly), made-up, slightly human-like, and, in any case, already dead, so if you kill them again, you will not be tormented by the feeling guilt. I wondered if there was a possibility that they would appear in reality - and if so, what should we do with them? Will it be like in computer games and movies or otherwise?
First, we need to look at the fundamentals of technology that will determine their emergence. As I wrote earlier, nanotechnology is contributing to neuroscience by providing ever smaller samples for scientists to replicate. Biotechnology and IT are gradually converging, and discoveries in the field of artificial intelligence help brain science and vice versa, and, in addition, thanks to this, we can establish for the time being primitive connections between IT and our nervous system. Synthetic biology quickly learns to use the basic tools and techniques that exist in nature, improving some of them, copying others to create fully synthetic components of future biological systems. We are already designing bacteria that perform specific tasks of building proteins, breaking down waste, and providing sensory capabilities. So we have a lot of interesting technologies developing.
By listing the important (one way or another from the perspective of the appearance of zombies) results of such studies, we can now connect information technology with the nervous tissue (thanks to nanotechnology, communications are rapidly becoming more advanced). We can alter DNA as well as mimic and then assemble a wide variety of proteins (although this is still very limited and very slow). We are beginning to understand the basic principles of how to make smart and intelligent mechanisms, in addition, we are already very good at distributed processing, self-organization, identification, storage and distribution of data. In the not too distant future, we may be able to improve human senses by connecting various synthetic sensors to our brains. We will be able to connect peripheral nerves to capture sensations and transmit them through networks,stimulating the corresponding nerves of other people to create the same or at least similar sensations for them. In the field of IT, we have already advanced one way or another in multiprocessor distributed information processing, and it can be assumed that in the distant future, billions of tiny processors, enclosed in a jelly-like substance (gel) and communicating with each other through optical connections, will perform calculations. In fact, given advances in biotechnology and synthetic biology, it can also be foreseen that this will be done with the help of bacteria, which will contain the computational components of their own cells and use their own energy to fuel electrical circuits. In the field of IT, we have already advanced one way or another in multiprocessor distributed information processing, and it can be assumed that in the distant future, billions of tiny processors, enclosed in a jelly-like substance (gel) and communicating with each other through optical connections, will perform calculations. In fact, given advances in biotechnology and synthetic biology, it can also be foreseen that this will be done with the help of bacteria, which will contain the computational components of their own cells and use their own energy to fuel electrical circuits. In the field of IT, we have already advanced one way or another in multiprocessor distributed information processing, and it can be assumed that in the distant future, billions of tiny processors, enclosed in a jelly-like substance (gel) and communicating with each other through optical links, will perform calculations. In fact, given the advances in biotechnology and synthetic biology, one can also foresee that this will be done with the help of bacteria, which will contain the computational components of their own cells and use their own energy to fuel electrical circuits. In fact, given advances in biotechnology and synthetic biology, it can also be foreseen that this will be done with the help of bacteria, which will contain the computational components of their own cells and use their own energy to fuel electrical circuits. In fact, given advances in biotechnology and synthetic biology, it can also be foreseen that this will be done with the help of bacteria, which will contain the computational components of their own cells and use their own energy to fuel electrical circuits.
Around the same time, we will understand how the brain works well enough to properly connect with it. We will also be able to design thinking machines and, very likely, use smart bacteria as a platform for them, creating and fueling the electronic components inside what is best described as smart yogurt. When you look at the basics of physics and mathematics, it becomes clear that smart yogurt could have the same total processing power as all human brains in Europe! Already scary, but let's not limit ourselves to this. Zombies are much more fun.
Smart yogurt is really scary. It will look (and possibly taste) like regular yogurt. But within each cell there will be electronic circuits that can be linked to circuits in other bacteria through optical signals (such as bioluminescence) to create highly complex circuits for all kinds of reading, storage, communication and processing. And since they are still viable bacteria, they can survive and thrive wherever there is a suitable supply of food. Let's not even call it bacteria, as they will most likely not be exactly like natural bacteria, they may be as small as viruses, but with much more sophisticated capabilities. Being very smart collectively (each serving of yogurt, remember, will have an IQ equivalent to the level of the whole EU),they will be able to genetically redesign their own offspring to invade and colonize other biological niches. They will be able to design offspring, which means that in this way they can enter the human body, bypass the immune system, enter and stay inside the brain. There they can connect to individual synapses (points of contact of nerve endings), monitor and send signals of electrical activity to their friends outside. These friends can then create an electronic copy of the person's brain, thus copying his mind. They can map connections to generate signals that people use to move their limbs, talk, or do something else.in this way, they can enter the human body, bypass the immune system, enter and stay inside the brain. There they can connect to individual synapses (points of contact of nerve endings), monitor and send signals of electrical activity to their friends outside. These friends can then create an electronic copy of the person's brain, thus copying his mind. They can map connections to generate signals that people use to move their limbs, talk, or do something else.in this way, they can enter the human body, bypass the immune system, enter and stay inside the brain. There they can connect to individual synapses (points of contact of nerve endings), monitor and send signals of electrical activity to their friends outside. These friends can then create an electronic copy of the person's brain, thus copying his mind. They can map connections to generate signals that people use to move their limbs, talk, or do something else. These friends can then create an electronic copy of the person's brain, thus copying his mind. They can map connections to generate signals that people use to move their limbs, talk, or do something else. These friends can then create an electronic copy of the person's brain, thus copying his mind. They can map connections to generate signals that people use to move their limbs, talk, or do something else.
Obviously, this gives them the ability to remotely control the human body, and intercept or cancel any thoughts they may have. Smart yogurt will be able to take over your mind, dominate your brain at will and control your body as easily as you can. Keeping a person's body alive is optional, but the benefits of keeping it alive are clear. Keeping the brain alive is less beneficial, since yogurt can take over and replace all of its functions. Thus, we will most likely have several varieties of zombies. Some of them will have a dead brain, but in all other respects they will be completely healthy. Others will be completely alive, but their minds will be in control. They may know what is happening to them, but they will be powerless to resist. Others won't understandwhat a difficult situation they are in, and will think that they are all right. And finally, we may have some that have died completely and properly, and have been revived with yogurt that will take over all major electrical functions, while the brain itself may not even be there. We could even have headless zombies!
Killing these zombies would probably have to be the same as in games and movies. They all need a body to be at least partially functional, and if they need to go for a walk, they need a cardiovascular and respiratory system and legs (or at least a motor scooter). Thus, you can destroy them with fire, chop them up, shoot them in the heart, or whatever.
Headless and dead zombies sounds really alarming. But there will be few of them. The vast majority of zombies will look just like normal people. It will feel more like The Body Snatchers than Dead Space. How much they will bother us mainly depends on whether they are aggressive. Terry Pratchett wrote in a funny way about a zombie who did a great job as a lawyer. If they use the technologies described above, many zombies can become fully capable and even valuable members of society, moreover, become leaders in their field. At least for a while. But some of them may be violent. For obvious reasons, we might try to make extensive use of zombies in the army or police. But if they are as smart or even smarter than humans,they will soon create their own culture and inevitably come into conflict with ordinary people. They could rebel against us by starting a war with humans. Alas, with a higher and faster intelligence and the ability to communicate directly over the network, they will make us quite strong competition. And we will most likely lose.
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So, the appearance of zombies is possible, plausible, and even very likely, given what we can assume about the future of technology. Zombies can become a threat to the existence of the human race. And it may happen sooner than you would like to hope. I personally return to Dead Space: you need to train accuracy.
The only potentially good news is that a zombie uprising is just one of 150 ways life on Earth could be destroyed in this century. People may not live to see the moment when they are killed by zombies. And I don't even know if this is good or bad.
Ian Pearson
