It has happened countless times throughout the animal kingdom. By cataclysmic forces of nature, changes in the food chain, or the inability to evolve, extinction is an unfortunate reality. It is theorized that perhaps man will be the creator of his own undoing on this earth. Mankind has the amazing ability to harm its evolution simply by its desire for short term gratification. Many scholars believe that it will be our technology that brings the end to our reign as the dominant force of this planet. Like the dinosaur, our bodies will one day become a part of the earth. Mankind will cease to live, unless, as we see in horror films, we return as a member of the undead: The zombie. But even as Mankind dooms its collective mortality, it will fare no better from beyond the grave.

As we learned from the previous thesis, the zombie is reduced to its most basic motor functions. One most important function becomes the desire to eat to survive. His only means of sustenance is flesh from a living human. Therein, the zombie must hunt and kill the mortal human and eat his carcass. We have learned in zombie films of two breeds of zombie. One breed simply needs any piece of flesh from the human body. The other breed demands the living brain as his food source. Both demands create the eventual extinction and genocide of their race.

The crux of the problem stems from reproduction methods of the zombie. Unlike the living’s use of sexual fertility and coitus to further his species, the zombie relies on killing mortals to propagate. Case in point: Night of the Living Dead. Here, we find that the zombies are essentially dead and rotting corpses. Only the basic motor functions of the brain are kept alive. If the zombie can sink his teeth into a mortal, but does not harm his brain, the wounded human will die only to reemerge as a zombie. There lies the method of propagation. If the mortal is wounded to the point that the brain ceases to function entirely, then no propagation will occur. Remember, the brain stem must remain somewhat active for the “zombie power” to take hold. A big dilemma here is obviously the breed of zombie that must feast on the brain. He is alone killing the opportunity to reproduce. There are two main scenarios that will lead to the downfall of this collective species. One, the zombie that only needs random flesh to gain nutrients can still leave the brain unharmed and propagation can occur. This adds one more member to the population and one less member of the food source. Eventually, this will lead to a lopsided food chain structure. Or, the zombie that requires living brain acts as a scavenger and picks his cranial feast, rendering the mortal vessel useless for reproduction. Better yet, as previously stated, this zombie goes straight for the brain. The zombie that only needs flesh has no want for the dead flesh and thus is left without food. Before long, these two scenarios will leave too much population and not enough prey. In essence, their self-inflicted genocide is perpetuated by the basic drive to consume. Total extinction is the only end to this voracious desire.

That being said, perhaps their will be enough left of the living to start anew and repopulate after the great zombie uprising. After the last of the rotting corpses is tossed into mass graves, life will go on and prosper once again. That is, unless mankind failed to see the parallel of the demise. Should mankind continue to propagate, invent and revolutionize without seeing their own self-inflicted genocide slowly taking form, that same basic zombie-like drive to consume will be followed by the ground breaking of their own mass grave.

(Damn, I am sorry. That sounded like a hippie statement. Screw the planet. Save yourself. And you know, Charlton Heston could’ve solved the whole Night of the Living Dead problem. SOYLENT GREEN IS MADE OF PEOPLE! Zombies come a runnin’ for the great taste of Soylent Green! Now with 50% more people.)