Diocletian Zombies

"Diocletian Zombies" is a thought experiment by Karl Jones.

Description

According to testimony from software developer and unlicensed fabulist Karl Jones:

I take my cue from the Roman emperor Diocletian, who decreed a command economy where more or less every son must follow the trade of his father, and nobody gets to change trades.

Say the first zombie was a blacksmith. The blacksmith-zombie bites, say, a cavalry officer.

Now the cavalry officer becomes compelled to perform zombie activities in the manner of a blacksmith.

When the cavalry-blacksmith zombie then bites, say, the director of human relations at General Motors, the next thing you know GM is hiring cavalry-blacksmith specialists like there is no tomorrow.

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles
• I Know What You Did Last Zummer

External links

• Diocletian @ Wikipedia