Zombies and Saddles don't mix!

Zombie Outbreaks, or any other disaster spread by human factors, tends to pick up speed with each transmission. As more people are infect (literally or metaphorically) more people are able to transmit, and if there are no natural limiting factors (such as geographic barriers) the outbreak will begin to pick up speed at an alarming rate once it passes a critical junction we refer to as the saddle.

In the event of a Zombie Outbreak or any other human driven disaster, the key is to escape prior to the saddle so that you are not overwhelmed by the outbreak as it explodes following the saddle.

Have a look at this graph of human population growth through the centuries. The underlying formula governing that growth has been affected by our access to fossil fuels, but not as much as you might think. The point where the population starts to spike upward is the saddle.

Look that this progression of numbers: 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024. 16 through 128 are the saddle, and all I did there was multiply 2 by 2 and then multiply each resulting sum by 2 as well. I didn't change the underlying math, but eventually the formula hit a saddle and began producing dramatically bigger numbers.

All other things being equal, this is what a Zombie Outbreak style disaster looks like in terms of spread. And you want to get out before the saddle makes the effects of the disaster so pervasive that there is nowhere to hide.

So you want to watch for the signs of a Zombie Outbreak early so that you can escape before the entire human environment is effected. Remember Zombie Outbreaks are disasters spread by human factors, and include things like popular revolutions, pandemics and epidemics, mass panic or paranoia, and anything else that humans can spread through direct social contact that could massively disrupt the social cohesion of a society.

The uprisings in the Middle East right now are Zombie Outbreaks. So is the Haitian cholera outbreak. Limiting factors (such as proper hygiene for epidemics) can suppress the spread of an outbreak, while enhancing factors (such as social media for popular revolutions) can fans the flames. Watch the trends and look at the factors involves. You don't want to be caught in the middle of a zombie outbreak when it passes the saddle.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS AND OTHER DISASTER TYPES

COME TO "ESCAPING GROUND ZERO" OUR WORKSHOP ON HOW TO GET

YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES TO SAFETY IN A MASS EMERGENCY

MAY 21ST AT THE PETER KAYE ROOM IN THE VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY

1PM AT THE DOWNTOWN BRANCH

$20 PLUS TAX AT THE DOOR

Images used

• From the Intuitive Blogger
• From Eric Ingrum
• From Sean Hicklin