Talk:Group mind (science fiction)

I think it would be wise to add to List of Group Minds only if you have read the book or seen the movie or whatever, so that you can write a cogent sentence about it. Not that mine are all cogent, mind you. --David.alex.lamb 21:37, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I just found hive mind, with which I should merge all this stuff. For some reason I didn't think of it as a synonym until seeing a reference to the Bord as a hive mind. --David.alex.lamb 22:09, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I decided to move the hive mind fiction list here, since the hive mind page needs to become a disambiguation page. --David.alex.lamb 23:39, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

In the list of non-hive group minds, the bullet points on Neon Genesis Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain seem like major, major spoilers. Maybe give a warning or omit those? I'm not familiar with either one, but they both seem to refer to major occurences in the final episodes.--216.43.17.100 19:25, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

The Overlords in Childhood's End are not a group mind. They went down a different, more individualistic evolutionary branch, and thus can never form a group mind, and greatly regret it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.78.15.62 (talk) 09:20, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Are they really hives?
I am unfamiliar with most of the items in the list of hive minds, which came from the old hive mind article. Are some of them actually non-Hive group minds? For example, what about Gaia and Galaxia? --David.alex.lamb 00:27, 20 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I've moved the Conjoiners and Edenists to the second list. (BTW, Asimov's Gaia seems to appear in both lists...)  I also think the article should perhaps be expanded to take this second list into account.  While true "hive minds" are (apparently) more plentiful in sci-fi than groups that think together to some lesser degree, this article still just seems to be "hive mind" under a new title.  I'll look at it if and when I can; work calls. – Wisq 19:12, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Protoss
''The Protoss in Blizzard's computer game StarCraft universe. They are completely self-conscient, but still remain linked with their society thanks to innate psionic abilities. They can use their psionic link to communicate with other members of their race and even with other creatures, such as the Zerg or human Ghosts. However, there is a part of the Protoss race which values personal mental development more than being merely a chunk of the general society. They have chosen to abandon the path of Khala and sever the communal psionic link by cutting off their nerve appendages. As an outcome they've lost the connection with the rest of the race, but instead learnt to draw power from the cosmic void. They were expelled from the Protoss homeworld of Aiur so have chosen to settle upon the planet Shakuras. They call themselves the Dark Templar, and used to be widely hated and despised by the rest of the Protoss, but finally play a great part in saving the entire race from the ravenous Zerg invaders.''

Removed, for:

1. This doesn't fit in with the definition of "A group mind that is not a hive either lets individuals retain some individuality, or can itself split back up into functional individuals at need". A telepathic society isn't necessarily the same thing as a group mind.

2. Far too much irrelevant information. If this goes back in for whatever reason, it needs to be trimmed down some.

~ Eidako 21:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Small edit
I changed the line: Its use goes back at least as far as Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men.

To: Its use in literature goes back at least as far as Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men.

Seemed to me that it implied it was never used in general prior to that book, which is way too fucking broad of a claim to make, in my humblest of opinions. PaZuZu 06:07, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

The stepford cuckoos
i wish someone would add the stepford cuckoos(from the xmen) to the list because they have a telepathic group mind.--Cerebra 16:43, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Cybermen
Removed as there is no reference to a group or hive mind in the their Wiki entry, nor to my own knowledge. Corinth (talk) 14:12, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Possible hive minds?
I decided to look for a couple of what I've always considered hive minds or partial hive minds, but neither are on the list. Are these defined as such?

• The LGM (Little green men) as seen in Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command seem to either talk in unison or can continue another individual's sentences when together in the claw machine. In the original film, one LGM gets stranded at Sid's house and is unable to speak; in Toy Story 2, a trio of them used as a rearview mirror ornament rapidly take turns speaking. In addition, one episode of Buzz Lightyear has the whole group in a panic; Buzz pours a bucket of water on one of them and they all calm down. That same episode features the "independent thinker" among the LGM, the only one that speaks on its own behalf, following each of his phrases with the rest of the LGM collectively disdainfully saying, "Independent thinker."

• The Delightful Children from Down the Lane from Codename: Kids Next Door always speak in unison, walk with extremely clone proximity among each other and stepping at the exact same time, and seem to function as a single character. They always occupy one seat while sitting down and apparently go to the bathroom together. However, they seem to retain some small amount of individuality; in the episode "Operation: U.N.D.E.R.C.O.V.E.R.," a single Child named Lenny splits off from the group to join the Kids Next Door. Throughout the episode, he acts independently of the others and speaks independently when split. However, the other Children seem to know what Lenny is doing and thinking while away. Ron Stoppable (talk) 06:35, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Doctor Manhattan
added Doctor Manhattan (Watchmen) to the list, twice. Rather than revert again, I'll ask Wikipedia's group mind: is there a good reason to list him? —Tamfang (talk) 01:11, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

can someone remove the "citation needed" mark for Xenomorph's hive mind?
I've played three of the AvP games on PC: Aliens vs. Predator, Aliens vs. Predator 2 and Aliens vs. Predator(2010).

As far as I understand, all three of them depict the player controlled drone receive objectives in form of an order issued from the Alien Queen. Especially in AvP2 and AvP2010, at certain point of the game you'll hear a sort of hiss/shout from queen ordering you to do various things.

I have no idea how to turn this into a proper reference so please help D: 220.232.189.243 (talk) 08:13, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Real hive minds
I came to the believe that creatures like ants or bees where Hive minds, is this not the same thing explained in this page? If it is not shouldn't we have a separate page for real hive minds?

What about the science fiction novelette "Swarm" by Bruce Sterling?
I think it should be in that hive-mind list, too. Great story, BTW. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.228.229.153 (talk) 01:46, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
 * It's already included in the list under the section "Books" ("The Swarm in Bruce Sterling's short story of the same name in Schismatrix"). --Fixuture (talk) 20:36, 8 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Schismatrix is a novel. What's the title of the omnibus volume that contains Schismatrix and some shorter works? Possibly Schismatrix Plus. —Tamfang (talk) 23:59, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

Hunters in Halo?
Arent the hunters/mgalekgolo in the Halo franchise consist of a gestalt intelligence? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.127.194.190 (talk) 15:41, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

The Rebel Worlds
A possible addition to "non-hive group minds", in a novel by Poul Anderson, probably The Rebel Worlds, which I read many years ago. Each person consists of three symbiotic parts, loosely resembling an elephant, a bird and a monkey. Each part is typically a member of several permanent part-time triads. —Tamfang (talk) 00:05, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Requesting guidance on what to do with list?
I feel that the current list of contents in "List of hive minds" and "List of non-hive group minds" currently has too many articles in, to the detriment of creating a good article on group minds and hive minds. I see a number of options for dealing with it: Any opinions? ~ El D. (talk to me) 16:58, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Split them into a separate article (and deal with them there)
 * Substantially thin them by, for example, removing any non-notable entries (ie ones that lack their own Wikipedia page)
 * An alternative criteria that I am about to start implementing is to include only ones that are stated to be a member of that group by an independent reliable source
 * Delete the list entirely and make references to examples in the article body (not sure what this would look like)
 * Delete the list and don't make any references to examples besides what is required by a discussion of hive minds as a whole

Possible sources
~ El D. (talk to me) 21:43, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * The Portalist
 * Knowing Neurons
 * IO9/Gizmodo
 * Futurism
 * Scientific American
 * Cultured Scene

Update on the list
I am currently going through the list item by item and attempting to find independent sources that describe the thing as a hive mind, adding the source if available, adding a citation needed template if not. I will shortly go back through the list and delete ones with the citation needed template. ~ El D. (talk to me) 20:03, 22 December 2020 (UTC)