A group mind, group ego, hive mind, mind coalescence, or gestalt intelligence in science fiction is a plot device in which multiple minds, or consciousnesses, are linked into a single collective consciousness or intelligence.
Overview
"Hive mind" tends to describe a group mind in which the linked individuals have no identity or free will and are possessed or mind-controlled as extensions of the hive mind. It is frequently associated with the concept of an entity that spreads among individuals and suppresses or subsumes their consciousness in the process of integrating them into its own collective consciousness. The concept of the group or hive mind is an intelligent version of real-life superorganisms such as beehives or ant colonies.
The first alien hive society was depicted in H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon (1901) while the use of human hive minds in literature goes back at least as far as David H. Keller's The Human Termites (published in Wonder Stories in 1929) and Olaf Stapledon's science-fiction novel Last and First Men (1930), which is the first known use of the term "group mind" in science fiction. The phrase "hive mind" in science fiction has been traced to Edmond Hamilton's novel The Face of the Deep (published in Captain Future in 1942) referring to the hive mind of bees as a simile, then James H. Schmitz's Second Night of Summer (1950). A group mind might be formed by any fictional plot device that facilitates brain to brain communication, such as telepathy.
Some hive minds feature members that are controlled by a centralised "hive brain," "hive queen," or "overmind," but others feature a decentralised approach in which members interact equally or roughly equally to come to decisions. The packs of Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and The Children of the Sky are an example of such decentralized group minds.
Hive minds are typically viewed in a negative light, especially in earlier works, but some newer works portray them as neutral or positive.
As conceived in speculative fiction, hive minds often imply (almost) complete loss (or lack) of individuality, identity, and personhood. However, while the individual members of a group mind may not have such things, the group mind as a whole will have them, possibly even to a greater degree than individual people (just like a human has more personhood than a single neuron cell). The individuals forming the hive may specialize in different functions, similarly to social insects.[citation needed]
Examples
| Year | Source | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells | Main characters of the novel go to the Moon and encounter society of Selintiles that exhibit properties of a group mind |
| 1929 | The Human Termites by David H. Keller | A scientist discovers that termites are all parts of a bigger organism, all controlled by thousands years old central intelligences that plan to conquer the world. |
| 1951 | The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein | Slug-like parasitic aliens capable of controlling any organisms they attach themselves to spread among people as they adapt measures of exterminating them |
| 1960 | Meeting of the Minds by Robert Sheckley | A scorpion-like alien named Quedak has a mission to unify diverse sentient beings into a single collective consciousness. |
| 1987 | The Tommyknockers by Stephen King | An alien spacecraft gradually transforms the residents of a small Maine town into advanced, but soulless, beings who use alien technology powered by a form of collective, mental or psychic energy. |
| Year | Source | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | The Puppet Masters | movie adaptation of the novel The Puppet Masters |
| 2009 | Eyeborgs | The network of camera-robots ODIN is filming everything and attacking anyone they deem a threat to their surveillance state but then fabricate video-evidence of something totally different taking place to cover the trails |
| Year | Source | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Q Who" | Introduced a recurring antagonist of the series hive-mind alien group Borg |
| 2015 | Rick and Morty episode "Auto Erotic Assimilation" | Introduced a hivemind character Unity |
| 2016 | Stranger Things seasons 2–5 | Introduced a hive mind that connects together all "flayed" creatures and humans |
| 2021 | Inside Job episode "Reagan & Mychelle's Hive School Reunion" | Based on Myc, a sentient mushroom-like being, going back to his "hive school" reunion, where students were part of a hive mind |
| 2025 | Pluribus | The plot of the series revolves around a hivemind that encompasses all people on Earth except for a few individuals |
