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Zombie
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The fictional creatures known as '''Zombies''' are the reanimated [[death|corpse]]s of dead persons.
==History==
The phrase originates with the [[Voodoo]] religion of the [[Caribbean]], where it is alleged, due to the historically high mortalities among living [[slavery|slave]] labourerslaborers, zombies were procured to work on plantations. In fact these zombies may actually have been living [[abduction|abductees]]; an extract of toxins from the [[puffer fish]] is believed to have been used in their preparation, rendering them tractable, speechless and impervious to sensations such as pain and fatigue.
==In Popular Culture==
Zombies commonly feature in a popular sub-genre of [[horror film]]s, such as ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]''. Cinematic zombies fall into two main categories: fast and slow. Slow zombies are frequently portrayed as mindless, lurching, animated cadavers animated only by an unquenchable lust for blood and human [[brain]]s, and can typically be put down permanently only by means of [[decapitation]] or a [[gun]]shot to the head. Moreover Fast zombies, such as in 28 Days Later, are usually portrayed as infected with a mind rotting diseases, such as rabies or mad cow, rather than reanimated corpses. Some variations stick to the destruction of the brain rule while others act more like normal humans in the way they respond to injuries. Moreover, both are usually able to spread their condition by a mere bite, causing anyone so injured to turn into a zombie in a matter of hours. These so-called "rules" were established by Sometimes, blood or other bodily fluids can spread the highly successful "Dead" series by George A. Romeroinfection.
Zombies are also common antagonists in [[fantasy]] [[role-playing game]]s, often being reanimated by [[necromancy|necromantic]] [[magic]]ians, where they are also usually classified as [[undead]] beings, and thus certain people, such as clerics, are able to utterly annihilate them with pure faith alone.
==Other uses==
In computer terminology, a '''Zombie''' is a computer which has been infected by malware, usually without the owner suspecting anything, and made to perform as a server for spam or other malicious content, thus isolating the original bad actor from a trace by law enforcement. A large percentage of junk email and [[phishing]] attempts are transmitted by zombie networks.
Another use of the term is in the construction "philosophical zombie" or "p-zombie"; this essentially a ''Gedankenexperiment'' to investigate whether it would be possible to determine, within a naturalistic framework, whether or not a being who behaved like a human being were conscious or not.
[[Category:Mythical Beasts]]
[[Category:Computers]]