The Last of Us Thoughts

Bram Adams

27 Jan 2023 — 2 min read

Episode 1

is there actually no cure for fungal mind control? how would it control a multiprocess organism w nervous system, circulatory, etc? I guess the brain does it with no problem so perhaps a fungus that could get low enough into the brain stem could force muscles to move, like Michael did:

94 Degrees?

[ ] nerdist article
[ ] https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a42535471/the-last-of-us-cordyceps-fungus-infection-explained/

Naughty Dog developers created the idea for the Cordyceps brain infection after they were inspired by an episode of the BBC documentary Planet Earth titled "Jungles", narrated by Sir David Attenborough. In the episode, it features an infected ant being killed by Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, as well as showing a variety of other insects and arachnids that were killed by different species of the fungus.
On this scene, creative director Neil Druckmann said: "it was all based on the idea that the more numerous a species becomes, the more likely it is to be preyed on by this fungus." In reality, it is quite impossible for humans to be fatally infected by the Ophiocordyceps genera but may undergo behavioral change or 'disorder'. Since humans are easier to dissect (in terms of removing foreign substances or matter) than insects (also body size can also have a different outcome for the infection), normal Cordyceps would take weeks or months for it to be fatal (View Highlight)