The SCIENCE! Behind the Zombie Apocalypse

Swaaaaag | crowdmade.com/s...
Playlist | • The SCIENCE!
Facebook | / shoddycast
Twitter | / shoddycast
Twitch | / shoddycast
Support the show | / shoddycast
Join the cast | goo.gl/forms/Sc...
~ Our top supporters ~
Jacob M.
Pat R.
DozyGamer87
Celio G.
Sinclair
Aidan M.
Lasse P.
Babak S.
~ CREDITS ~
Executive Producer | Randy Parish
Producer | Rasha
Writer/Editor/ Narrator | Austin Hourigan
Director | Josh
Closed Captioning | Kyle

[@lucifer6966]

Instead of training to be a more effective zombie slayer I instead exercise rigorously making sure to include plenty of cardio and working out my jaws. I'll have my teeth replaced with steel implants. I'll even throw on some body armor and a helmet. This way when I'm turned I'll be a much more efficient and deadly zombie.

[@noram8103]

Hahaha great Idea

[@slime_sam4321]

But isnt cardio rule one to surviving the zombie apocalypse?

[@dwmlue9299]

@@slime_sam4321 Only if you're trying to avoid being bitten. If you have great cardio AND intentionally become infected, then you would presumably have a more durable frame for all that sweet, sweet zomjuice to drive.

[@slime_sam4321]

@@dwmlue9299 I was actually trying to make a zombieland reference, but thanks for that response anyways!

[@kevinthao594]

" i dont believe in that, you ever see a lion limber up before he takes down a gazelle?" 😶

[@TheATLASO]

*washes hands intensively*

[@mikea2363]

burns hands

[@Sekushiwolf]

Removes hands.

[@mikea2363]

*Explodes*

[@blutomas9403]

buys robotic hands and a flamethrower

[@occultninja4]

Hand Washing Intensifies xD

[@freakshowartz]

“God forbid a pandemic” 2020: Well shit

[@dallasmay4031]

2021: Here we Go again

[@Reyfan601]

@@dallasmay4031 2022 : F*ck!!!

[@rzwitdauncut]

@@Reyfan601 2023: china wants to run it back like the nba championship.

[@harrisjordan7492]

2023: please God have mercy.

[@JorgeAzapata726]

The Zombie Apocalypse is very real. I couldn’t believe it at all before but it’s coming and I really believe we’re going to see the beginning of it by the end of 2023 believe it or not.

[@sm901ftw]

I imagine things like natural barriers/zombies "dying" over time naturally by rotting/etc. would significantly change the results. Zombies are gonna have a much harder time if they have to cross a desert or ocean before they reach the next nearest humans.

[@jollygoodfellow3957]

This simulation calculates at most 2.7 years, and all the other graphs are for 180 days. The situation is horrific even in the short term.

[@marypusineri6291]

Nah, these bullshit graphs dont take into account terrain or militairies

[@paskky913]

In a pandemic case of something that kills us, we are fucked, no matter what. Btw some humans would just hide in shelters for some months, so all the infected die and the infection with them.

[@lucifer6966]

It really wouldn't matter much. As long as this "zombie virus" was incurable and was airborne civilization as we know it would most certainty end.

[@randomguy2518]

Weather and climate are big factors, heat and humidity accelerate rot.Conversely heading north would ensure practically worry free survival during the winter, dead flesh can't keep itself from freezing solid

[@Alcatrax_]

Carpet Bombing with NUKES?? And STILL 81% of humanity still die? Holy piss

[@SuperExodian]

probably in part due to those carpet bombings :P

[@Gollvieg]

That's why even though it is a stupid fantasy, the US military still have a plan and training regimen prepared just in case a similar situation happens in the future. God Bless Paranoia.

[@yuyaplays9311]

If the nukes do not kill the survivers the following winter will

[@Alcatrax_]

Vermin Supreme has a zombie plan

[@floridaball4896]

Alcatrax nuclear winter idiot

[@Sam60420]

“I accept zombies as my lord and savior”😂

[@vectra9_957]

Hell yea

[@dustybunny6716]

I want a shirt that says that.

[@nichsulol4844]

the lagging spamming nuke and crashing windows

[@dallasmay4031]

Gamers be like: Hold my Soda

[@joslenpettit5350]

Have you considered looking at similar outbreaks and including things like survival scenarios? The first thing that comes to mind is the World War Z (novel) in which every nation implements its own variations on a model to save as much of the population as is feasible. I suggest taking a crack at that, although perhaps a bit out of the purview of this channel.

[@darkblood626]

Shawn of the dead remains the most realistic depiction of a zombie outbreak. Any monster that can be fended off by a band of plucky survivors would be mowed down by any military. Period.

[@1967sluggy]

darkblood626 It's got to be the best zombie flick made, or at least one of the greats.

[@GuestOfGregoryHouse]

darkblood626 Shaun*

[@joslenpettit5350]

Yeah?

[@Athetos_Admech]

While military and police could probably contain smaller outbreaks they might get spread too thin or forced to prioritize some areas while others get overrun at epidemic levels.

[@Sun-Tzu-]

The Last of Us has the most believable outbreak I've seen. The "zombies" are still technically alive, they run and are very hard to kill, and the spores do most of the infecting, as well as it's a real fungus. It would be hard to fight them, especially in a hand to hand fight, unlike TWD or any other stumbling zombie, where you literally have to lie down to get eaten. And if you don't have a gas mask you could just get spored. The spores could also infect masses of people at once, meaning that the outbreak could not be stopped at Patient Zero.

[@lookingforahit1207]

Sun Tzu ikr.

[@kyriss12]

28 days later was also pretty believable with their "zombie plague" being what amounted to mutant super rabies on angel dust. More importantly there were a number of people who managed to survive by fleeing into the country, and the virus never achieved the impossible task of crossing the ocean. Once England fell to the rage virus it was put under quarantine, and cut off from the rest of the world. The original night of the living dead was also believable in a way. It was implied that the recently dead were reanimated by some kind of atmospheric radiation from an experimental satellite. Which is pretty much space magic, but gets around the tricky issue of having a disease with 100% fatality rate, and no incubation period spread across natural barriers like mountain ranges, under populated country side, and large bodies of water. Also while you get the impression that humanity struggles at first both with the main cast who are huddled in the basement of a country house, and constant radio reports form the outside. It doesn't take that long to set up an organized resistance, and in the end you have what looks like a civilian militia marching through the country side popping zombies as they see them. Unfortunately they got a little trigger happy and shot the last main character on site, but at least black lived till the end of the movie.

[@Quintonias]

Valiant Videos Why are you being so angry? He simply stated another way the zombie apocalypse could happen. In no way did he state that he was right or that anyone was wrong.

[@addylenwest8536]

Valiant Videos how do you know that? Did you get your degree in epidemiology from Wikipedia university?

[@antitheist3206]

Quintonias The original post was worded as if Last of Us was the only believable zombie outbreak. Intended or not, it came off as more of a statement of fact than an opinion piece.

[@lemerkin3633]

Someone should make a zombie like fallout game. One that takes place hundreds of years after the epidemic.

[@zacgalfinakis9195]

So like a cross between the second division game and the last of us maybe?

[@byerly724]

Fallout has mods to do that exact thing

[@billykapard9863]

Yeah, people would not know what a car or a computer is. Would be fun to see.

[@cajmoto6475]

LemerKin Games they did its called fallout 76

[@notmytrolleyhubbell4613]

Yeah, except the zombies are the game developers themselves...

[@JohnPeacekeeper]

Left 4 Dead's also got an incredibly interesting and tragic lore behind how its zombies work too

[@valeryon8847]

John Peacekeeper Which...actually could sort of happen, if certain fungi, that infects bugs, grew to affect Humans. Vsauce....3 or 2, made an incredible video regarding this topic.

[@JohnPeacekeeper]

***** And yet, somehow, the worst of it is that immunes are also carriers. Kind of like virus breeding grounds.

[@GrandTheftAuto974]

+Valeryon link or title?

[@JohnPeacekeeper]

***** comics

[@thevideogamehunger0134]

@@JohnPeacekeeper In our world we got people who cosplay as zombies and do zombie pranks. So how will you know their is a actual zombie outbreak. And not a guy just fucking with the rest of us.

[@viking4132]

The thing is that zombies would still work like a human being, needing food, water and sleep i guess. So hiding for about a year in a safe place would be nice. Because they would have died by that time of no food nor water. So yeah, a zombie outbreak wouldn't be that devastating unless they work like in the walking dead.

[@Zetawavez]

Viking413 The walking dead ones are decaying, so it just would be slower.

[@FebiMaster]

But the zombies in TWD can only be killed by a damage to the brain or destroying it, even decapitation would still make its head move, that will make things tricky

[@heisentheberg7514]

FebriyanWP but when they all reduce to skeletons they can't do shit

[@lare290]

I would just hide in the north pole for a few years. Zombies freeze in the cold.

[@thetrashmammal7389]

Karolinsk soldat in the scenario of Max Brooks' apocalypse his virus gets into the body and immediately travels to the brain and kills the subject, however it keeps the stem alive to command the body and sustain motor skills. he explains the science of it not rotting with the fact that decomposition is caused by microorganisms breaking down tissue, and the virus combats the microorganisms that enter the body, extending the lifespan of the subject to five years before the host becomes too damaged to be viable. so the human race would have to hide for a minimum of five years after the latest human was infected in order to wait it out.

[@JB-hc9jy]

one of my favorite infection outbreaks in games is The Last of Us' infected outbreak. it's based on a real life fungus that causes ants to become zombies in a sense, and the game is based on as if the cordyceps fungus genetically evolved, managing to infect and cause more than just ants to turn into zombies.

[@samwood3691]

That sounds like it should be made into a TV show!

[@ryanbolson23]

Austin, after years of watching you, this is by far still my favorite video you’ve made. Good job.

[@rubenjr4908]

"Hour by hour, more zombies infect more people..." It's mid April during corona virus. Replace hour with day, zombies with infected people, and this vid hits you so hard. 20,000 dead in US alone...

[@jambott5520]

but wait, if the immune die, there immune system will...die, so can't they then be infected at that point?

[@philllllllll]

Jambott it's not just the immune system but differences or specifics in DNA that could make a virus just plain incompatible with your whole system

[@Laflamme78]

Your immune system isn't this one thing that stops you from getting sick, it's a complicated web of functions and tasks carried out by your cells.

[@captainzubzubs5127]

ikr, the immune can be zambies

[@captainzubzubs5127]

yes I know I spelled it wrong

[@cindixgaming3557]

well, in the video he just said pretend that they just can't be infected

[@kumbi8368]

0:58 dude, those graphics were the shit back in the day! I have so much nostalgia for them.

[@Legionzzzz1]

Honestly I think The Last of Us got down pretty well, and something similar to what happened in that is probably what would happen in reality.

[@garrettanderson4930]

You do realize for that fungus to take over humans it would take a considerable amount of evolution in years to do so I'm pretty sure by the time it even gets to that point we would have already killed the Earth ourselves and be living on Mars so fungus dead Earth dead we good on Mars

[@mc6470]

Oh it will happen. Not now, not later, but probably decades or centuries. But it will happen.

[@floridaball4896]

@@mc6470 you really believe that?

[@mc6470]

Floridaball it can happen

[@tooslow4065]

@@mc6470 so could santa clause being found to really exist on the north pole in a pocket dimension.

[@reeseself7807]

everyone buy a davie Crockett to blow up those zambies

[@JoeMartinez18]

Plus to count... for every zombie that is out there, the fight against them turn more complicated as the friends of the person who turned into can't kill that particular zombie.

[@evilchili4787]

I recall Florida man eating faces and the cop aiming for the head. A hero.

[@nicoler.wunderink_2874]

As a total science freak, I love his "fuck it, let's just believe it" approach 😂

[@BeanMachine360]

Oh look im wearing thicc leather and a helmet He he, i am immune to the dead munchies

[@hatbottlesoap]

Good to know this uploaded on my birthday ❤

[@MarvelousPhilly]

Well, everything will go back to "normal" once everyone on the planet is either dead or a zombie.

[@actuallywill]

If i am not mistaken, according to the movie lore, the T-Virus, if injected into living tissue, will result in mutation to a very high degree. Hence, lickers. Now, if a human is bit by a t-virus infected zombie then they will to become a zombie. It is stated in the first movie that living tissue that has been given the T-Virus causes mutation, the scene is close up quick cuts of the licker inside the things they were in before the power shut off in the first movie. To be clear, I do NOT think they meant that an alive person that becomes infected will be a licker, i think it requires living tissue to be merged with the t-virus, and must be aloud an incubation period, it cannot just be introduced to it via zombie bite.

[@AnimeShinigami13]

the bit about the progenitor virus I never heard by the way, because i'd run away from the resident evil game cabinet every time I heard it start up the ad for it as a kid. I only watched the resident evil movies as an adult when the song Re: Your Brains by Johnathan Coulton helped me approach my fear of zombies in a way where I could take it on.

[@mafia9928]

But if you nuked the zombies, wouldn't they become feral ghouls?

[@Zintenka]

Stop.

[@sherlockbones6702]

Stop.

[@JackCobalt]

*kill me*

[@biohazard724]

Resident Evil is a Fallout prequel confirmed.

[@valeryon8847]

No, they'd be incinerated.

[@michalgolonka832]

Alright, ok, BUT WHERE MY F*ING TITANFALL 2 EPISODE AT??!!!

[@starwarsman70]

"Also, you should be washing your hands more frequently!" Austin, how did you know! WHO TOLD YOU!?!?

[@jpteknoman]

the first requirement of EVERY zombie apocalypse story is that the inhabitants of that world do not know what a zombie is.

[@jordynsonne3435]

the song is toccatta and fugue one of my favorites

[@thevideogamehunger0134]

In our world we got people who cosplay as zombies and do zombie pranks. So how will you know their is a actual zombie outbreak. And not a guy just fucking with the rest of us.

[@derel8453]

With all the facts and knowledge of reality and videogames your video are just pure gold for me atleast!

[@isaacdouglas7826]

The background music is a version of what i played in marching band

[@beargrills3508]

This is really good at explaining how epidemics work but say, contrarily to your scenario, that we ARE a genre-savvy bunch and know what zombies are and target their heads to put them in permadeath, then what would the outcome be?

[@StarFanaticCraft]

could those immune be probable vectors for infection as well? Since they could harbor the virus, they're just unaffected by it.

[@jamesdinius7769]

You see, cracked's argument does not rely on zombie-specific training. It is the mear fact that there are millions, perhaps billions of humans either practiced at or trained in the art of killing. (Be it hunting, law enforcement, or military) whereas zombies are shambling meat bags with relatively poor hunting skills.

[@bdz_4206]

2:58 Ahhh yes, mister ooohhh I'm the police and don't bother wearing a seat belt lol

[@dantebanducci235]

Of course, it’s worth noting that rats (or fleas really) and mosquitoes ALSO being transmission vectors kind of skullfucks the SInZD (I) model.

[@Charlakin]

This feels more like: The MATH! Behind the Zombie Apocalypse,

[@axetheviking6482]

Okay. So what is his first name, then?

[@garyselner6697]

But would you use a value of the ten percent of susceptibles instead of half when putting in the values for the immune?

[@VEGITAS4]

the return of the living dead zombies would fuck our shit up whether we are trained to fight them or not. they are the only zombies that can bring about an apocalypse

[@deadntcorpse1316]

do the science behind the last of us

[@afish2281]

Oh so that's how I can make simple simulations, with a similar model!

[@twisted_fo0l]

hay, thank you. i am useing a moded verson of your calculation for a eqwasion i am makeing for the population of werewolves! ( hay, its for math class!)

[@Dragon-of-Insanity-Town]

Wouldn't the radiation from the nukes have a chance to mutate the zombies making them either easier harder or just as hard to kill?

[@oucyan]

what I don't get, is that in all zombie-apocalypse multimedia, the zombie's don't attack each other. unless the virus is sentient enough to communicate with others of it's kind (not likely), the desire for flesh would cause the zombies to attack each other quite often. so unless every zombie creating virus is someone a hive-mind, the fact zombies dont care about each other is kinda inaccurate. not if it was a more complex organism taking control and reanimating the dead, I could understand them being able to identify with each other through pheromones or even vocalizations. Either that or the virus is hard wired to not care for the scent of rotting meat since it wouldn't provide a new host, but then again, that would prevent the virus from reanimating already deceased corpses, since it's not a viable host. in other words, zombies should be cannibalistic to a degree.

[@gigirobinson7342]

Yay! Honest Mosorgksi's "Bare Mountain"!

[@thevideogamehunger0134]

In our world we got people who cosplay as zombies and do zombie pranks. So how will you know their is a actual zombie outbreak. And not a guy just fucking with the rest of us.

[@censored4680]

those zombies got across large plains deserts, bodies of water and oceans real fast

[@ashlenroman3601]

a zombie apocalypse actually wouldnt last for more than a month due to the elements.. the toxicity in the air, the weather, etc. bugs would probably be the next thing to worry about, if there are any survivors.

[@alexwarmouth6012]

If I wash my hands any more than I do, they'll fall off. 100% sure.

[@cringyemailnamegivedie7592]

90% of people now: I will be a survivor I know what to do 90% of people in the zombie apocalypse: **sCrEeCh** **mOaN**

[@montyperkins3137]

I think the real zombies would be like "28 days later" , "quarantine" or "record". Not really living dead but more of crazy , violent psychos.

[@Cassiel75]

Luv it! Very thorough, Sir

[@leomaxD]

What we learned today: if we ever face a zombie outbreak kill the zombies or, after a cleansing process of nuclear democracy, we get Fallout!

[@amexicanwii]

welp in missing people and zombie apocalypse tje first 48 hours are crucial people

[@aeromedic8504]

I feel like he forgot the fact that as soon as the government find out about shooting them I'm the head the military can effectively increase there kill count plus the use of tanks and airstrikes other then nukes but you don't really see a true military response in resident evil

[@meth_squirrel]

hey what about the science behind how the chimera in resistance convert human corpses into chimera soilders and monsters?

[@filmandfirearms]

I wonder if zombies who were infected while alive remain aware of what's going on

[@theBCEproductions]

2:22 she was so zen after she brained that zombie

[@garronn]

This is a cool zombie theory, the only problem is that zombies don't just "bite" people, they "eat" people. It's why Rabies has yet to wipe out dogs and other animals. When zombies attack, and that's assuming it's the resident evil zombies, the infection will burn out super fast. But if this were The Last of Us or Dead Space, I could see these numbers being real close to accurate, especially if it were Dead Space.

[@CowsRMajestic]

I'm not 100% sure but there needs to be a modifier for the longer amount of time there are humans the better they become at killing zombies

[@attifosman8834]

Wasn't the virus first spread by rats because in resident evil files they are rats that roam around the broken t-virsus test tube and the corpses of the umbrella's specialist.

[@attifosman8834]

Also, you see one entering the the restaurant in the beginning of the game.

[@ottopike737]

what you fail to account for is the steady reduction in combat effectiveness of zombies due to the inevitable damage caused by walking across the entirety of America.

[@Luc-jc4dl]

Q: how do you stop zombies? A: nuke from orbit.

[@MortimerADuke]

This made me make my own model to play with

[@decavalerie6484]

If thinking about zombie apocalypse in somewhat realistic way - virus that drives people mad and violent... it all will end in 2-3 weeks, zombies will starve to death or eat each other. Most of games ignore this point and makes zombies immortal and literally "walking dead" which is not possible in any way. Some interesting point was in Stephen King's Cell - where people become not zombies but ape-like animals, stupid but alive and biologically active, in this state this "zombies" can really live for month or years - in form of animals

[@marieconstant6452]

Papa Duvalier it's a Science Zombies Apocalypse...

[@BigNTiredIron]

Why isn’t there a dead dead bucket? If a immune guy dies they shouldn’t reanimate or if a zombie dies it should be destroyed and not reanimate as well rather than just bouncing between dead and zombie buckets

[@edgiuslordius7754]

You will all hate me for bringing up call of duty zombies, but what if someone inside a mechanized suit like the Panzer Soldat, equipped with a flamethrower, jet pack, and a retractable claw (Fuck that thing) was infected, would the zombie be able to effectively use the suit or even use it?

[@chrisjackson1215]

Why does everyone mention its a waterborne infection in addition to bites; but no one EVER thinks about the fact people killing zombies get blood in thier eyes, nose and mouth? No one ever account for it 🤣

[@cadge5630]

Why was the immune box going down in Austin's infection model?

[@JAMINGUN6]

I AM NOT READY

[@Mandaloran317]

did you bring quarantine protocols gunships AAVs and incendiary explosives into account? I feel nobody ever takes the FULL military might into their equations

[@bumperbonnie5721]

And the ratio of immune could provide less zombies.

[@nixpardus3575]

So irl zombies are almost as terrifying as reavers from firefly got it

[@konstantinstepanov5461]

In reality I still think zombie infestation would get wiped quick. I mean just having one guy at one end of the street with a flamethrower would solve the problem :D Not to mention army, tanks, walls etc. Then there is the fact that zombies cant sustain themselves, after say they killed everyone in Racoon city, they would just die out of hunger so they would not continuously contribute to the exponential growth, so basically we just need to hide for a week or two :D And then there is water....

[@coolchrisable]

and rember this is virual so thats also not counting on mutations to the virus that could make the zombies mroe effective at spreading, killing, hunting (i mean they do like with the tyrants, crimson skulls/heads, hunters, gaint spiders,snakes and stuff)

[@spartanwar1185]

It's like the flood from Halo Kill it before it spreads

[@plaguedr.crowvin3349]

irony I get a zombie add before a zombie thears

[@DaKussh]

look mommy, I learned something with video games!

[@kylehenderson5654]

You forget to factor in people in bunkers

[@destroyeroftimelines8389]

In last day earth it used to be 20 percent and then they went to war for supplies and ammo now its 10 percent

[@clankplusm]

sooooo... did the first nuclear response totally wipe out the zombies? or was it like 50% of humans ded?

[@sneakyturtle7753]

Come on, man. I just finished my midterm for differential Calculus. I don't wanna look at it anymore >.>

[@floridaball4896]

what is the name of the badass version of the star spangled banner that was on this video?

[@pidget5818]

Before the Video started: Hell yeah, a Zombie Apocalypse, every gamers dream! After the Video: Please no

[@sampatton4560]

Did you add the natural birth and death rate into the equation?

[@briananthony4044]

I think of the zombie virus as a human rabies virus. If rabid humans became like rabid dogs, then a zombie like event could happen.

[@tooslow4065]

ok, so you mean to tell me every time you hear a noise outside your house you KNOW its a serial killer and you don't go check it out? that would be media training us to "know". I'm betting that most people here go outside to see what the noise was incase it was a neighbor getting shot or something. now you're dead.

[@skrog907]

It is a scientifically proven fact that Resident Evil 4 is the best game to ever exist.

[@Msbunbun]

2020 called, they want their plot back

[@drakula2294]

i wil be clementine for this halloween

[@darth_dub_]

Man I love these videos!

[@vermifugal357]

People would die from being fed false information on zombies

[@GreatScooty]

Wow that was awesome and terrifying.

[@DemonicAkumi]

I'll take the risk. I want one as a pet.

[@thepikazapper0522]

When you think about it, a zombie apocalypse isn't exactly possible. Take a look at some of the points in this list for example, the military exists, zombies are still made of the same thing, they can get shot in the head and still move. These are all things that shouldn't be possible, unless the virus increases the rate in which tissue regenerates but even that would take an extra amount of energy to the mitochondria to process that action throughout a cell. Another thing would be that in many cases zombies have fatal wounds and still operate as a normal zombie, such as having their entrails spilling out or having their arms or legs cut off. Eventually and most likely soon that zombie would die they still need their organs and their blood. The only exception to this I can see is something like The Last Of Us where the infection is a fungus. If you've already read this comment, that's because I've already copied it into 2 videos. So this one might not match up exactly to this video, but I at least watched most of it to make sure not everything was completely unrelated

[@ceu160193]

Military exists, but normal soldier training includes shooting at the body, not aiming for head. So first soldiers to encounter zombies will most likely die, as they would not be aware of where to shoot. Virus can increase tissue regeneration, causing hunger in the process, which explains why zombies are trying to eat their victims. Since zombies got thicker blood, due to lack of hydration, they are less vulnerable to wounds, and virus can give them some mutations as well, like additional/thicker bones to grow, increasing their survivability against humans. As for them dying - eventually yes, they will die, but going in "sleeping" state with no food nearby extends their existence.

[@TheEsam98]

This Sinzd part fried my brain 😵😵😵

[@GeneralPadron]

Nice choice in music.