In this talk, Halberstam argued against new versions of humanism that seek life at all costs, that seek to extend life, prolong life, invest in the good life, and that see death as the ultimate form of failure. Halberstam used the metaphor of the zombie to explore new dynamics between prolonged life for the wealthy and the diminished opportunities for longevity for everyone else. Our current matrix of extended life can be understood in terms of the bio-political but this is a ‘zombie biopolitics’ that creates new balancing acts between bio- and necro-political regimes. Zombie humanism, accordingly, arrogates liveliness, dynamism, vibrancy and resonance for itself and consigns all other forms of being to the status of inertia and stasis.