"Zombie"

I can hear it now; “Nathan, don’t be ridiculous. A person controlled by a fungus isn’t a ‘zombie,’ it’s a mind-controlled person.” To you people, I have one thing to say.

You’re right.

Now let me ask you this: do you consider the enemies in The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, 28 Days Later, and Zombieland to be zombies?

http://www.darksidecostumes.org/images/resident-evil-zombie.jpg

Do you think the image above is a zombie?

Well, you shouldn’t.

All of these zombies began with a virus. A virus is a small critter that, in these instances, control the individual on the cellular level and change their DNA. The virus resides in the individual, because it can spread after a bite. Now, what is so different, might I ask, from a virus changing your DNA and destroying portions of your brain, leading you to do things, from a fungus taking control of your brain and leading you to do things?

Really, it comes down to how you define a zombie. If you use my definition of a human that is no longer in control of its own choices, accomplishing an objective that it did not set for itself, then yes, an individual controlled by a fungus is a zombie. If you think differently, you may reconsider the fact that you’ve ever seen a zombie on TV or in a game, because the ones you are looking for are probably in small Haitian tribes.