Will Humanity Be Wiped Out By This Zombie Mushroom?
Yesterday, before going to bed, you went to the kitchen to turn off the light but unexpectedly decided to eat a couple of sandwiches. Today you got out of bed to listen to a developing lecture, but half an hour later found yourself skipping through the stream. You planned for this week to learn 30 words of Spanish, but deep down you already doubt that you’ll manage it. You know perfectly well. What to do and how to do it correctly and usefully, but you end up doing everything wrong.
It’s as if your actions are controlled by someone who isn’t you, someone who’s telling you that you’re hungry or lazy, or weak-willed. And you submit without a murmur to the Silent Voice that governs you. You know it’s impossible. Crowds of unconscious zombies on the screen have long ceased to frighten even children. You know that every living thing on earth controls its actions.
But now you’re going to see why this may not be the case. On the head of this Ant is the mushroom Cordyceps. The peculiarity of this mushroom is that. Completely subordinates the will of a still living insect and uses it for its purposes. It creates a nutrient base for its reproduction and leads the Ant to inevitable death when the enslaved insect fulfills its function.
And becomes unnecessary for its host, the fungus, to manipulate the insect’s behavior in this way. The fungus, having penetrated its spore into the ant’s body slowly, step by step, builds a complex cellular network inside its body, which gradually penetrates all its internal organs, and at the chemical level, controls every corner of the creature that was recently an Ant. But now this still living Ant zombie is crawling out of its colony. It’s driven by the order of the Cordyceps mushroom and is being sent to a specific place that the owner has determined for itself as the best for further reproduction there. The Ant finally freezes forever and provides the remains of its nutritious flesh for the fungus to germinate and its shell for its protection.
The exact mechanism of how the fungus manages to take control of the ant’s body is still unknown to scientists. But ancient fossils that have been found indicate that parasitic fungi of this species have continued to control the behavior of ants over the past 50 million years. Probably you’re now calming yourself with the thought that we’re not ants, we’re not afraid of such effects. Our brain is much stronger than a mushroom. But remember.
Even in the 20th century, many diseases that previously only pigs, birds, or bats suffered from managed to mutate and adapt to the human immune system. Even the human immunodeficiency virus just 40 years ago was only observed in primates and avoided humans. Let’s imagine this parasite. Is slowly and imperceptibly trying to learn how to manipulate the human body. First, it would reproduce and build up its network, getting into all the internal organs, and setting the structure for future changes.
Then it would build up its mass and power in preparation for reproduction. Due to the interception of nutrient flows by the fungus, the person would be forced to eat. More and more trying to feed themselves and their owner, then the influence of Cordyceps would begin taking control of the central nervous system and brain. And at this stage, the self-preservation instinct of the fungus would already dictate to the person on the one hand full confidence in their excellent health and on the other hand complete rejection of any examinations and medical procedures. And finally.
In the last stage, the fungus has gained enough power to completely enslave the human mind and develop the spores necessary for reproduction to spread itself as widely as possible among people who could become new carriers. This dictator will force the zombie human to rush at others. Bite, scratch, and tear other people’s flesh, spreading the infection. Absolute rage, blind hatred. No need to eat, no need to sleep, no need to relax.
Dressing, washing. All of this is in the past. Only serve your master and spread the new civilization to the whole world. That’s why in movies, zombies are so aggressive and all-destroying, and that’s why they’re finally killed by breaking their skulls. This is where the thought center of the parasite mushroom will be located, and knowledge of this fact will undoubtedly be useful to us when the zombie.
Apocalypse Combs. But no, no one will break the skull of the 1st. One infected at first, they’ll try to isolate, examine, and treat. The first surviving victims will return home to their families and to work. Mushrooms can skillfully disguise themselves, even from the human immune system, and are incredibly resistant to the effects of drugs.
The main thing will happen a little later. When here and there in the country, there are outbreaks of such human rage and an unjustified thirst for violence. Of course, soon someone will be the first to assume the improbable and say the word epidemic. But by that time the worst will have already happened in the body of carriers. The infection will be flying to neighboring continents.
And beginning a countdown timer for our entire civilization. However, let’s come back to reality. Today, the Cordyceps mushroom is sold in pharmacies.
It’s used as a vitamin complex to strengthen the immune system, which gave me the idea that this mushroom isn’t so dangerous as to cause a zombie apocalypse.
But there are other, more unpredictable parasites.
This is toxoplasma.
