• for: progress trap, progress trap - climate change - zombie virus

• for: AI - consciousness, zombies, question, question - AI - zombie
• question: AI
  • is AI a zombie?
  • It would seem that by interviewing AI, there would be no way to tell if it's a zombie or not
    • AI would say all the right things that would try to convince you that it's not a zombie

He's supposedly defining a zombie process, but here ends up defining an orphan process, conflating the two.

Future of transport after the zombie apocalypse?

When I think of "picked his bones" it sounds like decay over time. Whispers are suppose to be soft and quiet so maybe it is referring to a slow and gentle death over time instead of a sudden harsh one. I could imagine a zombie like figure emerging from the sea after his bones are picked.

I've been a big fan of the zombie/living dead sub-genre since I was pretty young, and the interest has grown even more in the last 12+ years. Overtime, I have wondered whether this sub-genre, our fascination with zombies/infected apocalyptic themes/elements, has deeper meaning for us that can point back to the innate nature of othering or ingroup/outgroup. There are stories of genocide and wars in literature throughout time and across every culture. Humankind has an extensive history that involves the oppression and marginalization of many different civilizations and people. We have an intimate relationship with war and conflict. In the past, it may have not been so usual to see apocalyptic literature with themes that target a certain race or groups of people, even a race that was deemed inferior or less than fully human, due to the prevailing ideologies and worldviews during those times. But the same attitude and worldview is unacceptable today, at least to many. Survivors of the apocalypse can't go all feral and Purge on another group of people, at least not on such a wide scale. However, zombies/infected seem to take that place. Zombies serve a similar function. Not only is there the classic world-ending event that has existed in religious literature for millennia, but survivors get to maintain human supremacy (rather than racial) over non-humans. It becomes unacceptable because these things are no longer conscious or recognized as a living, sentiment human.

In these lines, Eliot creates the image of nature that is not comfortable to man. Mountains are usually known for being tall, grand, and majestic. When someone stares at a mountain, one tends to feel emotions of sublime and awe about how God (if believing in God) can create such a shape. However, Eliot’s mountain is personified to have a mouth of “carious” i.e. decaying, teeth; it is rotting away like the mouth of a zombie. When viewing this mountain as a zombie’s “mouth,” Eliot’s mountain cannot spit; which can be seen as not being able to perform it’s natural bodily function; nor is it able to get rid of decaying components which will eventually cause the rest to decompose.

Eliot’s mountain is decaying, i.e. dying; it cannot spit, i.e. not functional nor able to get rid of the problem; and it’s effect on humans is being useless. It is uncomfortable to man to the point where “one can neither stand nor lie nor sit.” These actions are actions of rest or stagnancy that require minimal to no effort to do—yet nature is preventing humans from doing so.

This juxtaposition of nature fits into the theme of zombie: Eliot’s nature is not living nor thriving; yet it is not dead—it is in between. There is helplessness and constraint when something cannot perform its automatic process. There is disruption when one cannot find comfort in nature, even if it is to stand, sit, or lie.

Eliot’s mountain offers no solace or peace when needed: “There is not even silence in the mountains.” One can feel like a zombie when such functions of living and dead mix.

These lines draw on a prominent theme throughout Eliot’s work. The waste land is littered with people that aren’t truly alive. Instead, they are mindless drones that merely go throughout their lives as zombies. The imagery here depicts a person that is not capable of individual thought. The question being asked of whether the person is alive or not brings up the imagery of a machine. The person in question seems to know nothing while just going through the motions of appearing alive. They know nothing due to the fact that that they are merely doing as they’re told and submitting to a routine instead of being individuals and truly exploring their opportunities. The reason for this is never really made explicit, it is just the mentality of characters as Eliot writes them. They go about their business without acting as conscience beings. This leads into why Eliot considers a sea of mindless drones as a part of a waste land.

Eliot’s wasteland is a place devoid of life. He portrays people as devoid of higher thoughts, which makes them a mindless group of drones. The lack of critical thinking makes everyone appear as if they are merely zombies, people that are dead inside but are still up and walking around. This plays into many other sections of the poem where Eliot invokes imagery of people that are acting as mindless zombies. The sections of the poem where Eliot states that people are “dying with a little patience” and “I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring” utilize the repeating imagery of people mindlessly going about their existence somewhere in between truly living and dying. This un-life contributes to the concept of the waste land devoid of life. These people aren’t truly alive, which leads to them polluting the landscape, making it truly a waste land of lost souls.

The theme of "zombie" or "walking dead" comes out throughout the poem. From the body being hidden in snow during the winter and spring showing where it is hidden, to death by water, this idea of the living dead comes up throughout the poem. The passage states that the those who have lived are now dead (obviously). But those who are currently living are in a way dead, or well on their way to dying. This can be seen sort of as the human curse: from the moment we are born we are already on our way to dying. With a little patience, with a little dash between birth and death is life (life - death), and we are venturing into death.

Speaking of venturing into death (literally on a boat), is in the Greek epic The Odyssey, especially Book 11 where Odysseus travels to The Underworld as part of his 10 years journey. So literally, travels to hell and back; he is walking among the dead, and the dead are walking among his living presence. For instance, Odysseus finds his dead mother, and is in shock since the last time he saw his mother she was still alive. Further into the Underworld, a line of the dead starts to form to try to talk to Odysseus, since of course hell doesn't get many living visitors, especially when they plan on leaving to return back home to their wife (who in the meantime is being hoarded by suitors). Odysseus also meets his old friends he fought besides in the Trojan war: Achilleus, Patroklos, Antilochos, and Telamonian Aias. The dead are talking to him throughout his entire stay in the Underworld. There is also a huge hint that Odysseus will die a watery death, which again eludes back to death by water in 'The Wasteland'. Odysseus is told to pray to the ocean god Poseidon for a peaceful seaborne death at an old age. So here we are again, with the knowledge that we will all indeed die one day. The day will come when we are of old age and all our patience of going through life is soon to come to an end. As sad as that is.

Relating back to 'The Wasteland', the idea of zombie is woven throughout. For instance,around line 70, there is a character that talks about a corpse that was planted in a garden. If it has begun to sprout or bloom. Even the dog is trying to dig up the dead. So as mentioned before, snow is what covers this body of the dead, hiding the past away hoping that it will not disturb you again. But it does later in the spring, in April, where the snow has dried up and the body has begun to "push daisies" as they say. So even in death, a new life emerges and is shown out in the garden. Gardens represent life, and blooming, and opening of flowers of life. So when it comes to it, the body, the zombie, will come to life in a different form. What I found peculiar throughout the poem were the titles: 'The Burial of the Dead', 'A Game of Chess', 'The Fire Sermon'. I shall explain what some mean to me:

'The Burial of the Dead' is interesting since it is the first title after "The Wasteland", which indicates that there are bodies needing to be buried in this wasteland. Bodies waste away, and they stink leaving a bad odor behind, which can be bad for the living's health, and that is why we bury them. Also, it is traditional to bury bodies.

'A Game of Chess' reminds me of a game with Death. Or rather, a game that is between Life and Death. They make moves on the board, slowly taking away each other's players, and this can by symbolic of taking away years of our lives. Life can hold out as long as it can, but in the end, it is Death that takes Life's king.

'The Fire Sermon' could be seen as the burning of bodies. As in the book Beowulf, the king Beowulf is burned on a boat with his treasures. So when a body is burned, so are the treasures that a person holds and they are kept with them forever. So any secrets and philosophies that a person holds is with them forever when they die, and no one will ever know. Also, zombies are burned after being killed through the pain, just in case, so they're burned to ashes and for sure cannot come back alive.

In the Bible, there is a passage in the book of Ezekiel titled "The Valley of Dry Bones." It isn’t too often that you see “dry bones” in literature, and it was interesting that it was a biblical reference. Taking into consideration that the Bible discusses a lot about death and life, there was a lot of examples to go off of. For example, when creation was formed in the book of Genesis, God saw darkness and called forth called light. Or after Jesus was crucified, he resurrected from death to life. Or in the letters or books written by Paul, he constantly discussed death to flesh and life in the spirit. And even right in the midst of the passage in Ezekiel 17, God tells Ezekiel to prophesy the dry bones to life. The Bible appears to allude these paradoxes. And it just so happens that Langston Hughes touches on the motif of zombies that discuss mindless creatures don’t have any control of what they’re doing because they’re dead, but alive. The reference of the dry bones similarly refers to the zombies that Hughes alludes to. If you were to imagine the image of a dry bone, the bone would look dry, flaky, or discolored because there is no flesh to keep it from being dry. These dry bones don’t serve their purpose, they failed the body they were bones for and ended up getting put to waste – and this ironically alludes to the title, “The Waste Land.”

The mindlessness of zombies is a fair reminder of Henry Adams and the Dynamo. The Dynamo was explained as this machine, an advanced form of technology in its time. It runs on a mysterious energy on its own, like a zombie. The dynamo ultimately reminded me of a robot that is controlled, as though its master or creator was in control of its mind. The same goes for zombies, though they do not have a master. Zombies, on the other hand, will kill, destroy, and put people into fear because zombies have no idea what they’re doing. They kill, destroy, and make people scared of them without consciously doing so.

And the lack of consciousness reminds me of Du Bois and his idea of double-consciousness. Although zombies don’t have to worry about being marginalized for their race, zombies are the opposite of double consciousness. Rather than being conscious, out of their mindless actions, they aren’t conscious of the potential harm that they cause. All in all, the dry bones or zombies aren’t a threat to anyone. They may have no idea what they’re doing, their purpose may be defeated, and they may be dead, but they’re basically no harm.

In the way that Williams saw nature (the deer) flashing past him as a cruel reminder of what life could be, I think that Elliot is feeling the same way. In the industrial world, where everything is decaying and dying, nature is a cruel reminder that life outside the city is reborn.

In the Bible, there is a passage in Ezekiel titled "The Valley of Dry Bones." Since they are bones alone, they are not covered in flesh, they appear dead. And in the Bible, God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones to live.

Interesting how a corpse is planted, which means it was buried - and is asked if it has sprouted. It's not too ordinary to expect to bury a corpse and expect it to sprout. It sounds like the corpse is a seed and its sprout is a flower. It's like sowing death and reaping life.

Sounds like the description of a zombie.

It's interesting. It sounds as if the narrator is anticipating a dead tree to give shelter, but the dead tree has no shelter because it's dead and has no leaves to give shelter.

Perhaps these people are the living dead? if not literal zombies, then something has made them undone, has made them go through life in a zombie like state.

life coming from the dead land. what kind of life can death produce? something gruesome and new, unexplored. not the kind of Lilac we are accustomed to, full of life and health. a zombie flower

It's not normal to see crowds of people walking around in a circle. Definitely appear to be zombie-like.

A dead tree loses its purpose of giving shelter due to lack of life. Just as how zombies lose their purpose of living because they're dead.

Dull is nearly dead, dead roots mean a plant is dying. But rain is also a sign of abundance.

Like a zombie, it is a dead body but has life.

Coriolanus- a deceased Roman general

Zombies mindlessly accepting what's given to them and waiting patiently

Zombies mindlessly accepting what's given to them and waiting patiently

Falsely Alive

the dog can unearth a zombie

The speaker alludes to zombies by stating that he/she was "neither living nor dead." knowing nothing and silence also refers to the state of being zombie-like--not quite dead, but definitely not living.

When I think of shadows I think of illusions, apparitions--almost alluding to zombies or the mysterious

the moment between life and death, living and dying, both at the same time

bones = death chuckle = living

Is he the Phoenician sailor?

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