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| Image Courtesy Drinkin'&Drive-In |
According to io9, the astronomical duo recently published a study that suggests there are over 2,500 planets overrun with zombies within 100 parsecs, or 326 lightyears, of our own solar system. Seem outlandish? Well, they've got some evidence to back up their predictions. To break it down, they state that considering the high likelihood of non-human life in the universe, that it is equally plausible that these other life forms have also been affected by the same disastrous earth pandemics, such as the plague, smallpox, and Spontaneous Necro-Animation Psychosis, or SNAP, which is also known as "Zombie-ism." On SNAP and the possibility of extraterrestrial undead, they state:
"The projected frequency of SNAP planets explains a contradiction which has long troubled the proposition that intelligent life is common: the Fermi Paradox. This premise of the paradox is that the timescale for extraterrestrial civilizations to spread throughout the galaxy is small compared with stellar lifetimes and so we should have encountered our neighbors by now. Our work here shows the resolution of the paradox to be quite simple. The desolation of a civilization requires only that they encounter a case of SNAP during their exploration phase and their entire civilization will collapse. Let us not repeat history by rushing in to where our predecessors ought to have feared to tread."
So, following this train of thought, they believe that it is entirely possible that we haven't been able to communicate with other beings due to their destruction at the hands of a "zombie" apocalypse! While it seems unlikely, it is an extremely interesting theory. I know that I would personally be ok with never coming face to face with a space zombie. If you're curious, read the study and let us know your thoughts!
-Nowal Massari