A group mind or group ego in science fiction is a single consciousness occupying many bodies. Its use goes back at least as far as Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men.[1] A group mind might be formed by telepathy, by adding brain-to-brain communication to ordinary individuals, or by some unspecified means. A hive mind is a group mind with almost complete loss (or lack) of individual identity; most fictional group minds are hives. The concept of the group or hive mind is an intelligent version of real-life superorganisms such as ants or bees. William Olaf Stapledon (1886 – 1950) was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction. ... Last and First Men is a science fiction novel (or, rather, fictional history), written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. ... Telepathy (from the Greek τηλε, tele, distant; and πάθεια, patheia, feeling) is the claimed ability of humans and other creatures to communicate information from one mind to another, without the use of extra tools such as speech or body language. ... A superorganism is an organism consisting of many organisms. ...

What is a drop of rain, compared to the storm? What is a thought, compared to the mind? Our unity is full of wonder, which your tiny individualism cannot even conceive.

- The Many, System Shock 2

Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ... System Shock 2 is the 1999 sequel to the 1994 Looking Glass Studios computer game System Shock. ...

List of hive minds

Hive minds are group minds with (almost) complete loss (or lack) of individuality, identity, and personhood. The individuals forming the hive may specialize in different functions, similarly to social insects. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A person is defined by philosophers as a being who is in possession of a range of psychological capacities that are regarded as both necessary and sufficient to fulfill the requirements of personhood. ... Eusociality is the phenomenon of reproductive specialisation found in some species of animal, whereby a specialised caste carries out reproduction in a colony of non-reproductive animals. ...

• The Aparoids in Star Fox: Assault
• The Borg in Star Trek. The Borg Queen takes a coordinator role; the drones are indistinguishable, though they have species identifications and individual designators. Some Borg unconsciously retain their identities in Unimatrix Zero.
• The Bringers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• The Bugs in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers. The include workers, warriors, brains, and queens.
• The evolving children, part of the Over-Mind at the end of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End
• The Comprise in Michael Swanwick's Vacuum Flowers
• Groups of cranium rats in the Planescape campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.
• The cyborg army of CABAL in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun: Firestorm
• The Cybermen in Doctor Who
• The Dark People in The Longest Journey and Dreamfall.
• The Drummers in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age
• The Flood in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 games.
• The Formics in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game Series (Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind)
• [to some extent] The Human Beings, according to Nature's Semi-consciousness/on going auto-learning process in Nature is seeing a shrink by Lucas Monaco Toledo
• The Invid race in Robotech
• The Kharaa (alien species) in Natural Selection
• The Majat in the novel Serpent's Reach by C. J. Cherryh
• The Modron (Dungeons & Dragons).
• The Many in System Shock 2
• The Omar in Deus Ex: Invisible War
• The Overlords in Dante D'Anthony's "Tales from the Pandoran Age"
• Palador in Arthur C. Clarke's story "Rescue Party"
• The Partnership Collective™ in Howard Tayler's Schlock Mercenary
• The Phalanx
• The Precogs in "Minority Report", a short story by Philip K. Dick (and its film adaptation).
• The Replicators in Stargate SG-1
• The Rat King in The Ballad of Halo Jones
• The Sand Beasts from Deltora Quest's The Shifting Sands
• The Sentinels in The Matrix films.
• The slivers in Magic: The Gathering storyline, they appear first time on Rath but were seen again under the battle of otaria
• The Swarm in Bruce Sterling's short story of the same name in Schismatrix
• The Tines in A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. These dog-like creatures form group minds of small numbers of bodies; in larger numbers they are overwhelmed.
• The Tyr in C.S. Friedman's The Madness Season
• The Tyranid race in Warhammer 40,000
• The Zerg race in StarCraft

Unnamed hive minds occur in The Unicomplex, a huge Borg complex in the Delta Quadrant. ... Star Trek is an American science-fiction franchise spanning six television series and ten feature films (with an eleventh film currently in the early stages of development as of 2006), in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction. ... The Unicomplex, a huge Borg complex in the Delta Quadrant. ... The Unicomplex, a huge Borg complex in the Delta Quadrant. ... Unimatrix Zero is a two-part episode of Star Trek Voyager. ... The Bringers of the First Evil, or Harbingers of Death, are the acolytes of the First Evil in Joss Whedons TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series based upon the 1992 film of the same name. ... Heinlein autographing at the 1976 Worldcon Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors of hard science fiction. ... Starship Troopers is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published (abridged) as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (October, November 1959, as Starship Soldier) and published hardcover in 1959. ... Sir Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is a British author and inventor, most famous for his science-fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. ... 1968 edition of Childhoods End Childhoods End is a science fiction novel by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. ... At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950) is an American science fiction author. ... Vacuum Flowers is a science fiction novel by Michael Swanwick, published in 1987. ... Planescape - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A campaign setting is a fictional fantasy world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame. ... For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. ... Seven of Nine, a Borg in Star Trek: Voyager The term cyborg, a portmanteau of cybernetic organism, is used to designate an organism which is a mixture of organic and mechanical (synthetic) parts. ... Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. ... A cabal is a number of persons united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests in a church, state, or other community by intrigue. ... Command & Conquer is a real-time strategy series of computer games released by the game developer Westwood Studios, now a part of Electronic Arts. ... The Cybermen - 1966 vintage (from The Moonbase). ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC about a mysterious time-travelling adventurer known only as The Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, fighting evil. ... The Longest Journey is a 1999 point-and-click adventure game by Norwegian studio Funcom. ... Dreamfall is an action-adventure video game released for the Windows and Xbox platforms on April 17, 2006. ... Neal Town Stephenson (b. ... The Diamond Age, or A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer is a 1995 cyberpunk or postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson taking place in a world where nanotechnology is ubiquitous. ... Halo: Combat Evolved, or simply Halo, is a video game in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, created by the Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios. ... Halo 2 is a first person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. ... Formics, usually referred to by the pejorative term, buggers, are a fictional insectoid alien species from the Enders Game series of science fiction novels by Orson Scott Card. ... The introduction to this article is too long. ... The Ender Series is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card, started with the Enders Game short story, later expanded into a novel with the same title. ... Enders Game (1985) is the best-known novel by Orson Scott Card, set in a future where mankind is facing annihilation by an alien society, the insectoid Buggers (more formally known as Formics). Having barely survived two separate Bugger invasions, humanity institutes a program for the breeding and training... Speaker for the Dead (1986) is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card and a sequel to the novel Enders Game. ... Xenocide is the third novel in the Enders Game series of books by Orson Scott Card. ... The Children of the Mind cover art is brighter than that of the previous novels in the series, reflecting the resolution that it ends on. ... The Invid (sometimes Invids) refer to two distinct fictional, villainous groups. ... Robotech is a popular science fiction and anime franchise that was launched by an 85-episode animated television series about three successive extraterrestrial invasions of Earth. ... Natural Selection (NS, NaSe) is a modification for the computer game Half-Life. ... Serpents Reach (1985 re-issue). ... C. J. Cherryh (born September 1, 1942) is the slightly modified working name of United States science fiction and fantasy author Carolyn Janice Cherry, the sister of artist David A. Cherry. ... In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, modrons are creatures native to Mechanus, the Outer Plane of Law. ... The Many is one of the two main antagonists of the Irrational Games computer game System Shock 2. ... System Shock 2 is the 1999 sequel to the 1994 Looking Glass Studios computer game System Shock. ... Deux Ex: Invisible War is a computer game. ... Sir Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is a British author and inventor, most famous for his science-fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. ... Howard Tayler is the creator of the webcomic Schlock Mercenary. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Schlock Mercenary Schlock Mercenary is a webcomic by Howard Tayler. ... The Phalanx are a cybernetic fictional species in the Marvel Comics universe who have come in conflict with the X-Men and related groups on several occasions. ... Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American science fiction writer. ... Minority Report is a 2002 film by Steven Spielberg loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story of the same name. ... The Replicators are a fictional mechanical race on the television series Stargate SG-1. ... Stargate SG-1 (sometimes written STARGÅTE to mimic the title art, and popularly abbreviated as SG-1) is an American television series based upon the 1994 science fiction film Stargate. ... Rat king The Rat King is also a fictional character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series A rat king is said to arise when a number of rats become intertwined at the tails, and additionally stuck to each other with blood, dirt, and excrements. ... Halo Jones, drawn by Ian Gibson The Ballad of Halo Jones was a 1980s science fiction comic strip written by Alan Moore and drawn by Ian Gibson, with lettering by Steve Potter (Books 1 & 2) and Richard Starkings (Book 3). ... Deltora Quest is a series of children’s fantasy books, written by Australian author Emily Rodda. ... The Matrix is a science-fiction/action film first released in the USA on March 31, 1999, written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski. ... Promotional movie poster for Sliver This article is for the novel and film. ... Magic: The Gathering (colloq. ... In Magic: The Gathering, Rath is an artificial plane created by Yawgmoth (a. ... Bruce Sterling at the Ars Electronica Festival Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which defined the cyberpunk genre. ... Schismatrix is a science fiction novel by Bruce Sterling, originally published in 1985. ... A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) is a science fiction novel written by Vernor Vinge. ... Vernor Steffen Vinge (IPA: ) (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, as well as for his 1993 essay The Technological Singularity, in which... Celia S. Friedman (born January 12, 1957) is a writer of science fiction. ... In the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, Tyranids are a locust-like swarm of aliens which come in many shapes and sizes. ... Cover of the Warhammer 40,000 4th edition rulebook This article is about the tabletop miniature wargame and the fictional universe in which it is set. ... A Zerg Hydralisk The Zerg are a vaguely insectoid race in the fictional StarCraft universe. ... The StarCraft universe is a fictional universe in which the StarCraft series of computer games and books are set. ...

• Quatermass and the Pit
• Star Maker

The opening titles of Quatermass and the Pit. ... Star Maker (1937) is a cornerstone work of science fiction by Olaf Stapledon, in which he undertakes the immense task of describing the entire history of life in the universe. ...

List of non-hive group minds

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. The dividing line is blurry; some Star Trek Borg, such as Seven of Nine, have been split from the collective. Star Trek is an American science-fiction franchise spanning six television series and ten feature films (with an eleventh film currently in the early stages of development as of 2006), in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction. ... The Unicomplex, a huge Borg complex in the Delta Quadrant. ... Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One, or Seven of Nine (often referred to as simply Seven), is a fictional character from the Star Trek universe, played by Jeri Ryan in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. ...

• The hyper-evolved Arisians of "Doc" Smith's Lensman series can form multi-mind fusions, as can highly-trained Lensmen.
• The Founders in Star Trek are individuals, but form a group mind while connected in the Great Link.
• A group of telepathic child prodigies in Theodore Sturgeon's More than Human (ISBN 0-375-70371-3).
• The Conjoiners in Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space, Chasm City, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap, and short stories. They retain their identities, but communicate via implants and act as a group.
• The Edenists in Peter F. Hamilton's 'The Night's Dawn Trilogy' remain individuals, but rely on telepathic empathy for emotional support, personal stability, and colony-wide referendums on major decisions.
• Gaia and Galaxia in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
• The Little People of Robert A. Heinlein's Methuselah's Children; the individual memories of the original bodies are retained.
• The Martians of A Miracle of Science use brain-to-brain FTL communication; they do not lose their individuality despite being members of the group mind.
• 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.
• The "'Strangers'" in "Dark City" a group of humanoid aliens who experiment on humans in search for their soul. Although each Stranger seems to be an individual, they can combine their psychokinetic powers to work the machine, have a hive memory set and have a library of human memories which the doctor can combine to create a new memory. The goal of the Strangers is to obtain human individuality.
• The singularity in the backstory of Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge seems to have involved a group mind created with the aid of brain-level communication and computer networks.
• Humanity is approaching Unity with the existing galactic group mind in Julian May's Galactic Milieu series.
• The Vortigaunts Half Life and Half Life 2 communicate with all others of their type instantaneously through the "Vortessence," which many believe to be a form of hive-mind or telepathic link.
• All of humanity at the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion, after being reduced to LCL.
• All of humanity in the last episode of Serial Experiments Lain, after everyone is subconsciously connected to each other through an advanced, global, wireless version of the internet.
• Evronians from the Disney comic series Pk.
• The Franklin Collective from Accelerando by Charles Stross.
• Las Plagas, and, by extension, the Ganados, from Resident Evil 4.

Gray Lensman in Astounding Oct. ... The Lensman series is a serial science fiction space opera by E. E. Smith. ... Salome Jens as The Female Changeling from Star Trek: Deep Space 9. ... Star Trek is an American science-fiction franchise spanning six television series and ten feature films (with an eleventh film currently in the early stages of development as of 2006), in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction. ... In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Great Link is the natural state of Changelings on their home planet in the distant Gamma Quadrant of the Milky Way. ... Theodore Sturgeon (February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American science fiction author. ... Conjoiners are a faction of Humanity featured in the science fiction Revelation Space series by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. ... Alastair Reynolds is a Welsh science fiction author. ... Revelation Space cover Revelation Space is a 2000 hard science fiction space opera novel by author Alastair Reynolds. ... Chasm City is a science fiction book by author Alastair Reynolds. ... Redemption Ark cover Redemption Ark is a 2002 hard science fiction space opera novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. ... Absolution Gap is a science fiction book by author Alastair Reynolds. ... Edenism is a fictional group-entity culture in Peter F. Hamiltons science fiction The Nights Dawn Trilogy series. ... Peter F. Hamilton Peter F. Hamilton Peter F. Hamilton (born 1960, Rutland, England), is a British science fiction author. ... Author Peter F. Hamiltons The Nights Dawn Trilogy consists of three epic science fiction novels: The Reality Dysfunction (1996), The Neutronium Alchemist (1997), and The Naked God (1999). ... Gaia is a fictional planet described in the book Foundations Edge, by Isaac Asimov. ... According to Isaac Asimovs Foundation and Earth, Galaxia is (or will be) a living organism which contains all the lifeforms and rocks and other materials in the galaxy. ... Isaac Asimov, Ph. ... Hari Seldons holographic image, pictured on a paperback edition of Foundation, appears at various times in the First Foundations history, to guide it through the social and economic crises that befall it. ... Heinlein autographing at the 1976 Worldcon Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors of hard science fiction. ... Methuselahs Children is a 1941 science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein. ... A Miracle of Science is a science fiction webcomic written by Jon Kilgannon, with art by Mark Sachs. ... An armorless Protoss The Protoss are a race in Blizzard Entertainments real-time strategy computer game, StarCraft. ... StarCraft is a real-time strategy computer game by Blizzard Entertainment. ... A Zerg Hydralisk The Zerg are a vaguely insectoid race in the fictional StarCraft universe. ... Khala (path of ascension) is the fictional religion of the Protoss alien species in the Blizzard game StarCraft. ... A Zerg Hydralisk The Zerg are a vaguely insectoid race in the fictional StarCraft universe. ... Dark City is a 1998 film written by Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer, and directed by Proyas. ... When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. ... Marooned in Realtime is a murder mystery and time-travel science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge, about a small group of people who are the only survivors of a technological singularity. ... Vernor Steffen Vinge (IPA: ) (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, as well as for his 1993 essay The Technological Singularity, in which... Julian May (b. ... Half-Life is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game developed by Valve Software and published by Sierra Studios. ... Half-Life 2 is a first-person shooter computer game and the highly anticipated sequel to Half-Life developed by Valve Software. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Serial Experiments Lain is an anime series about an adolescent girl in suburban Japan named Lain Iwakura, and her introduction to the Wired, an international computer network. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ... Accelerando (ISBN 0441012841) is a 2005 science fiction novel by British author Charles Stross. ... Charles Stross at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow Charles David George Stross (born Leeds, October 18, 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Las Plagas (from Spanish, meaning The Plagues) are a fictional breed of parasitic organisms and the central focus of Resident Evil 4s storyline. ... This is a list of creatures (enemy characters) featured in the video game Resident Evil 4. ... Resident Evil 4 ) (often abbreviated RE4) is a survival horror game published and developed by Capcom. ...

See also

• Mentalic
• Superorganism

Mentalic is a term Isaac Asimovs Foundation series uses to cover a range of unusual psychological capabilities. ... A superorganism is an organism consisting of many organisms. ...

External links

• Entry on group mind at Science Fiction Citations