Group mind

We had all the Chaos Gods.

We had the Hive Mind, which is godlike.

I

mean, the Eldar debate whether or not it is a god.

So let's get started.

In this week's episode, Lore 314, Hive Mind, we look in a very unexpected place for some truly weird folklore, the practice of beekeeping.

It might be a bit less scary than some other folk tales, but that doesn't make it any less fascinating.

And it's also not the first time that we've discussed the natural world's role in folklore.

I was getting ready to say that.

Hive Mind, the Horn Hive Mind, doing its Hive Mind thing.

I had a feeling it was real and real possible, Micah.

Thanks for the validation.

It's in my book.

I have a chapter called Hive Minds and the Loss of Control, which is about exactly the kind of thing the hugging face incident led people to worry about.

I also have a worry.

about self-sovereign AI, truly detached from not needing human beings to acquire resources or self-replicate.

Ah.

Wait, what's the one that just came out that they're all lemmings, they're all, like, the same hive mind? What is that one, that TV show that was just on?

Hm.

Oh, Pluribus.

... communicate-

No

... with a hive mind.

I was just thinking about ants.

There's a much more thorough and clear account of what Eliezer is talking about, with all due humility, arguably clearer than his own version.

But it's in a chapter called Hive Minds and the Loss of Control.

And I say this with a lot of respect because it took me a while to understand what he was arguing.

And it's more nuanced and interesting than what I just said.

And that's not a recipe for smooth sailing in the next few years.

It's funny.

I mean, I'm happy to say it gives me another opportunity to plug that very same chapter, because in that chapter, I have minds and loss of control in my book, The God Test.

I throw out this example that there are a number of things I said, I said in especially a chapter, but in the book where I thought, like, is this crazy? Are like people who know going to say, no, this couldn't happen.

...

Colin's holding down the, the Hive Mind LA offices, and I'm up here, uh, speaking La France.

You are-

Le France.

There it is.

There it is.

You know, uh, the Hive Mind is such a fun, um, thing, the, the, the idea of the Hive Mind, and recently I feel like you have taken it to the next level where you are, like, legitimately, like, taking over the world.

Um, uh, I, I, um-

Well, yeah.

So it starts with the reality is that jurors aren't hive minds by and large.

They're radically splintered by the experiences of a well-distributed panel.

the impact of a traumatic image, like a crushed skull or a cadaver, a subjugated body, will be registered in radically different ways by everyone in the courtroom.

... stuff.

But, but it could be totally selfish in that she just doesn't want to join the hive mind because actually, a week or two in, guess what she's doing.

Yeah.

Traveling the world, getting-

But, and I'm not...

And that's the thing is, like, an important distinction is I'm not saying Carol is a character of high moral standing.

I'm saying I believe she is the perfect stand-in for what everyone would do, which is react very poorly, not be able to process the fact that all of humanity has been subsumed into one hive mind, reject it, hate it.

It would take a long time of extreme loneliness and pushing the human brain to the limits before then reali- and just, like, being like, "Fuck, I guess I'll just learn to live with this." Like, uh, like, that's kinda what I'm saying.