The End Of The World
People have different ideas about how the world will end one day. Some believe that it will be a nuclear war, and some believe that it will be an asteroid crashing into the Earth. Many people believe it will be global warming that will cause the end of days. Some people have more far fetched ideas, such as a zombie or vampire apocalypse. In cases like these, the human race wouldn’t die out quickly the way it would with other disasters that could end life. Vampires and zombies attack, and they turn their victims. Soon, entire cities and towns are taken over by zombies or vampires that had been turned and are looking to turn more people on their own. Nobody knows how the world will end, but we all have a guess.
Vampire Apocalypse
If there were to be a vampire apocalypse, who would win? Who is stronger? A physicist named Dominik Czerniak from Poland’s Institute of Nuclear Physics was captivated by the idea. He wanted to figure out who would win in the end. To do this, he had to explore all variables in his catastrophic calculator. He wanted to find out what would happen if vampires did exist, and if one vampire started to attack a city. How long would it take a vampire to turn a whole city, a whole state, a whole country, and a whole continent? Dominick understands that vampires aren’t real, which is why his project is a “what if” situation. Scientists calculate how long humans could survive a vampiric apocalypse.
Vampires
We have all heard the stories of vampires. They live off human blood, they can’t be exposed to sunlight, and they hate garlic. Over the last 100 years, we have learned more vampire facts. When Bram Stoker’s hit novel, Dracula, was published in 1897, it helped to establish more of the vampire rules that we know about the modern vampire today.
Count Dracula
Count Dracula had super strength. He had shape-shifting abilities and had no reflection in the mirror. He also turned his human prey into vampires. This last part is was very important to Dominik when he was putting the variables into his calculator.
Salem’s Lot
Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot used some of the vampire lore that we all know, but King made changes. His vampires weren’t intelligent or sophisticated the way that Lord Dracula was. They were less intelligent and more monster-like. King’s vamps relied more on brute force and less on finesse.
Today’s Vampires
Today’s vampires are powerful, stealth, and gorgeous. Twilight, True Blood, and Vampire Diaries are popular with young people today, and the actors are considered heartthrobs, and every girl wants to be the actress. Vampires in today’s world have changed a lot. What does this new vampire mean for Dominick’s study?
Dominick’s Model
Dominick chose a model of traits that come from Stoker’s and King’s vampire behaviors. This is the same model that Mary Rice used for her popular series, Vampire Chronicles. When Dominick assembled the traits of his vampires, he was able to create an algorithm that would handle the calculations with just a few simple keystrokes. For the algorithm to work, Dominick had to enter some very specific data.
The Data
Dominick had to enter the human population, the growth rate, and the number of vampires and vampire slayers that would exist in his mythical world. When he entered this information, a graph appeared that told him just how long it would take for most of the human population to succumb to the darkness.
Dominick’s Findings
According to the computer, in a city of 25 million with an average growth rate and no slayer to stop the one, fairly productive vampire, the 25 million people would be eradicated within 30 years. If there were a slayer, it would improve the humans’ odds.
Based on his model, in a city of 25 million, with five vampires and three slayers, the human race could be stabilized indefinitely. What was the most compelling about his study is how different to outcome would be as the variables changed. A smaller city would die out faster, with our without protection. Humans with the knowledge to avoid vampires and to fight back would also change the variables. There are plenty of ways that Dominick can change things and many different outcomes.
The Vampire’s Abilities
One significant variable that could mean the difference between the survival or end of human civilization is the abilities of the vampires. Can they hunt only at night? Are they faster and more stealth than humans? Are they stronger? Dominick is still working on his project, and for him, it is fun. He enjoys changing the variables to find out just how long we would last if vampires tried to take over the world.
