The new hit Apple TV+ series Pluribus has been taking over fans everywhere. And as we are waiting to see what happens next to Carol (Rhea Seehorn), one thing has been weighing on my mind: The collective thoughts of the hive mind.
In episode 4 of the series, Carol and the hive mind have a back and forth through Jeff Hiller when she asks about her novels. The collective say they love her books and insinuate that it is a better series than all of William Shakespeare’s work combined. Yes, all of his plays. Including Romeo + Juliet and Macbeth, two specific plays that Carol calls out.
While I understand that the hive mind, as a collective, kind of operates on a system that works with averages (meaning their opinions are what all filtered through the minds and opinions of what the people used to have and then decided from the average of it all). And maybe I’d end up like Carol and the team of people who weren’t converted into the collective entity. Mainly because my opinions are a little too aggressive.
Imagine if you were in the hive mind and you heard Jeff Hiller say that everyone thinks Carol’s series is better than Macbeth. Knowing me, I’d be screaming in the ether or however it works.
Is everyone’s personal preferences just gone?
It was this scene that really made me question a lot of how the hive works. We know they have to do whatever those who are not in the collective ask of them. Like how Mr. Diabaté (Samba Schutte) had everyone acting out what I assume was Casino Royale in episode 6. But it does bring up a lot of questions about consent, personality, and the ability for the collective to say “no.”
There seems to be a lot of “gray” area with how it works. Everyone seems to agree with everything because if enough of the billions of people in the mind agree, then it drowns out those who say no. And the more I watch Pluribus, the more I realize that I would not do well in this situation. Even if someone wanted to fight back, it doesn’t seem like they can!
Maybe that will be a plot point moving forward. That the more comfortable the hive gets, the stronger individual voice will become. But it surely is frightening to think about having to go along with everyone else just simply because that’s the way it is. I would never disgrace Macbeth like that.
(featured image: Apple TV)
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