The Source/Cause of the Infection!

[7oddisdead]

You had me all the way up to singularity...aside from that. I'm totally on board with it..could not the "singularity" be the interaction between the "smart" hosts and the nanites(I like it) themselves? Would also lend to the explanation of pinstripes/randy etc..and create the perfect "hive mind" scenario we seem to gravitate toward

[Osiris]

You had me all the way up to singularity...aside from that. I'm totally on board with it..could not the "singularity" be the interaction between the "smart" hosts and the nanites(I like it) themselves? Would also lend to the explanation of pinstripes/randy etc..and create the perfect "hive mind" scenario we seem to gravitate toward

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...048299,00.html

That should explain things thoroughly.

[Luna Guardian]

Nano theory IS awesome...but now how would you plug something like ground zero into that equation? Control center of sorts?

Even the nanites would have needed to be produced somewhere. If I were to venture deep into tinfoil hat territory, I'd say that the entire nano-tech theory could have begun as an experiment to control the populace by a few chosen individuals, but something may have gone wrong. Perhaps the "servers" or some such techno-gizmos weren't ready to handle such bandwidth and what was supposed to be a controlled experiment got out of hand. Or perhaps a virus had been introduced into the nanites' programming to overwrite a part of the code, so that those injected would behave in a violent way?

As for the nasal spray, what yarri actually said was that humanity can and does do shitty things to one another. At no point did she actually state that nose-sprays were used to create zombies, she took an accurate historical example of man's cruelty in the name of science (tempted to bring up Mengele, but you're all thinking it already anyways).
That being said, I would like to stake my claim on that theory, even if it has little or no backing. A couple of years back there was news that eyedrops had been injected with acid (the plastic eyedrop containers) and that people had lost their sight because of this. Now, imagine if you will that an outbreak of a virus happens, what do most people do? They panic and stock up on readily available medication, even if its not all that useful. If you want to stoke that panic or increase the spread of your virus, you infect this medication with it, to spread it to even more of the population. If I was out spreading the zombie virus/nanite this is what I'd do. And one of the easiest ways to get it into circulation is nose-sprays because:
a) It is already in liquid form, thus more difficult to notice
b) It is sprayed directly up your nose, making infection very likely

[7oddisdead]

I don't mind the SF explanation of it all. Grounding the story in some sort of science helps it to retain some sense of realism even if it is reaching. Then again, we're talking about zombies.

and that's the danger (and fun!) of theorizing a story such as this..strong roots in science and realism...yet...frigginzombies
It can go any which way.../donethinkingtoday/

[Eviebae]

If we close out the possibility of a virus, and utterly ridiculous ideas such as aliens or divine (Infernal?) intervention, I think a few good options might be nano-machines or parasites.

The former would allow for the "mutations" we've seen with some degree of scientific accuracy and would allow the "infection" to work through the machines multiplying in a host body. The machines could embed themselves in all tissue, or at least bodily fluids such as blood and saliva, and transfer from one carrier to another. This might also give an explanation to the "smart ones" and the coordination we've seen, since the smart ones may have more advanced machines or may employ or control them to a higher degree and through a kind of wireless network send messages to the nanites in other infected.

The parasite theory works in a similar fashion, but the mutations might be more difficult to explain. Ideas?

There's always the possibility of more than one system at work or more than one wave of intervention working together. Like, you could have multiple infections of a virus each carrying a piece of the puzzle or mutation. Then, maybe nano machines providing some sort of advantage to some.

The problem with divine or infernal causes (looking at it from a purely what works in fiction perspective) is it's so intellectually and emotionally fraught it takes people out of the story. I guess, basically, it couldn't be something that a lot of people have discounted in their daily lives.

The problem with nano technology is it's a bit like the a lot of the future we've been promised. The reality right now is more "look how teeny tiny I made that chemical" rather than true machines. But that's true of just about any scientific explanation. Unless,...you could have something developed for a benign purpose being twisted.

[7oddisdead]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...048299,00.html

That should explain things thoroughly.

heh and that's why. Fully understand singularity..i just can't bring that concept into THIS story...well..i suppose I can, but damn. That just opens the floodgates.

[Osiris]

heh and that's why. Fully understand singularity..i just can't bring that concept into THIS story...well..i suppose I can, but damn. That just opens the floodgates.

It's like The Matrix with Zombies.

[Luna Guardian]

Unless,...you could have something developed for a benign purpose being twisted.

Perhaps it was designed to be used on dangerous convicts to alter their behavior to something more socially acceptable? It would explain why Ink would have been infected/injected as a possible test subject for the experiment.

And whatever the explanation turns out to be, we'll need to suspend our disbelief somewhat. Unless KC ACTUALLY has a zombie whateveritturnsouttobe at home, in which case I say let it break loose. I've perfect plans, even if Nik doesn't agree. We'll just see who outlives who Voodoo boy!

[yarri]

Perhaps it was designed to be used on dangerous convicts to alter their behavior to something more socially acceptable? It would explain why Ink would have been infected/injected as a possible test subject for the experiment.

It's a logical conclusion... convicts were second only to the mentally handicapped for use in such experiments. I'm sorry to know that fact as well. It cost me a decent blog and a few nights sleep.

[Eviebae]

You know what might be worse than knowing? Not ever knowing or even being able to figure it out. No matter what people decided was the truth, there'd always be people believing otherwise (like the moon landings).