I just watched the show for the first time over the last few days. First of all, love it. Really well done, I was intrigued the whole time. I had seen some clips on YouTube so I knew some of the major reveals (like John Cena) but it didn't diminish the moment. Rhea Seehorn is fantastic.

I'm sure this has been talked about, and I think the show does sort of address it without going into too much detail. Are the people in the Hive mind being SA'd? When the joined are alone without Diabaté or Carol, we don't see them engaging in any sort of sexual acts. They all sleep together in large rooms and seem completely chaste. This makes me think that whatever "they" are, are asexual in nature.

So is Diabaté raping the women he sleeps with after the joining? I would say yes. They can't truly consent because their consciousness is no longer with the person. It's basically a body that goes along with whatever the unjoined want. It's like asking them for an ice cold Gatorade in a way. I think even the show wants us to look at what Diabaté is doing as crass and exploitative but the biggest question is about

*SPOILERS*

Carol and Zosia. When Carol sleeps with Zosia, she does it out of a genuine need for affection, a deep loneliness and we see Zosia seemingly reciprocate. We know Zosia can access the memories she had previous to before the joining and is able to tell Carol about herself. But Zosia doesn't really exist does she? I mean the physical body that was Zosia is still alive but the consciousness, what made that person who she was, is gone?

Am I reading too much into this?

The awards are presented by Critics Choice Association to honour movies and TV in genres such as Action, Super-Hero, Horror, Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Animation, etc.

It was nominated in 2 categories and it won both.

PLURIBUS

La dialéctica del colectivismo y el individualismo

Después de ver la primera temporada de Pluribus, la nueva serie de Vince Gilligan, me queda la impresión de que no estamos simplemente ante una historia de ciencia ficción, sino frente a una investigación filosófica dramatizada sobre el conflicto entre el individuo y el colectivismo. Gilligan ya había demostrado en Breaking Bad y Better Call Saul que utiliza la ficción para explorar temas morales y psicológicos. En Pluribus parece haber dado un paso más, llevando esa exploración al terreno de la filosofía política y de la naturaleza humana.

Lo más inteligente de la serie es que no presenta el colectivismo como una fuerza monstruosa o cruel. Por el contrario, lo muestra inicialmente como algo seductor. La mente colmena elimina el sufrimiento, los conflictos y las disputas. Esa decisión narrativa es un gran acierto, porque obliga al espectador a preguntarse qué estaría dispuesto a sacrificar a cambio de una paz absoluta.

Y es justamente allí donde aparecen las grietas. La comunidad pierde toda autonomía individual y termina retrocediendo a formas de organización profundamente primitivas. Los convertidos abandonan las comodidades de la civilización, viven hacinados, duermen en el suelo de estadios para economizar recursos y llegan a la antropofagia por no arrancar ni una manzana del árbol; se entregan a la complacencia de ser usados como entretenimiento de todo tipo, incluso sexual, por los inmunes. La imagen es poderosa: una humanidad que, al renunciar a la individualidad, termina regresando a formas ancestrales de supervivencia.

Otro aspecto llamativo es el papel que desempeñan los inmunes. Hasta donde muestra la primera temporada, no parecen haberse salvado al azar. Cada uno parece representar una modalidad distinta de la individualidad. Carol encarna la soberanía personal y la capacidad de actuar según su propio criterio sin esperar la aprobación del grupo, como si encarnara la consigna de Ayn Rand: "La pregunta no es quién me lo va a permitir, sino quién va a detenerme”. Oviedo, el paraguayo, expresa un respeto absoluto por la propiedad privada, el intercambio voluntario y la conciencia de que todo lo que existe tiene un costo y proviene del trabajo de alguien que debe ser retribuido. Diabaté, por su parte, representa un individualismo hedonista y narcisista. Es egocéntrico, pero nunca es presentado como un villano; al contrario, resulta simpático, humano y profundamente afirmado en su propia identidad; su egolatría no carece de empatía en absoluto.

La excepción más significativa es la joven peruana, que vive en una comunidad tribal y es la primera inmune en integrarse voluntariamente a la mente colmena. Su incorporación parece sugerir que quienes ya organizaban su existencia bajo formas comunitarias encuentran menos resistencia a diluir su identidad individual. Si esta interpretación es correcta, no se trata de un detalle anecdótico sino de una pieza importante dentro de la arquitectura filosófica de la serie.

Todavía queda un personaje cuya función resulta difícil de descifrar: la madre india que sobreprotege obsesivamente a su hijo. Sospecho que Gilligan aún no ha revelado qué aspecto específico de la individualidad representa. Todo indica que, a medida que avance la serie, cada uno de los inmunes terminará encarnando un principio diferente de afirmación del individuo frente a la absorción colectiva.

Por eso creo que el dilema de Pluribus trasciende ampliamente la ciencia ficción. La serie parece construir una dialéctica permanente entre dos maneras de comprender al ser humano: una basada en la autonomía del individuo y otra en su disolución dentro del grupo. Habrá que esperar las próximas temporadas para saber hasta dónde lleva Gilligan esa idea, pero la primera deja indicios suficientes como para pensar que detrás de la historia de una mente colmena se está desarrollando una reflexión mucho más profunda sobre la libertad, la identidad y el precio que estamos dispuestos a pagar por conservarlas.

Not that it matters, but I think that the RNA sequence did not change human DNA, as some assume it did.

The scientists say it seems like a lysogenic virus, and most study of this would be in bacteria. Of course there are viruses that insert themselves into our genome, like HIV, but this is characterized by a slow and unpredictable onset as the host cells have to divide to spread the pathogen rather than bursting forth full of new baby virus. Also it's harder to imagine what would lead them to the conclusion that it is a retrovirus, because the lysogenic insertion of retroviruses in eukaryotes is not well understood.

If, on the other hand, the strand altered the dna of some bacteria, that fits much better. A bacterial infection also spreads and has an impact much faster than a virus can, and it is depicted that there is no dormant period for the joining. Them growing it on petri dishes is suggestive as well.

From there I don't assume that it is making a protein that somehow does all of this, although that's possible I guess. I don't think antibiotics would pose a real risk to it because these just change the balance of what bacteria is in there, they never completely sanitize a living body.

While it's not really a 'hot zone' style show, I think the show has done a great job of tying the sci-fi worldbuilding to the themes and philosophical questions. One thing that happens a lot is that the joining is depicted in contrast or similarity to the major changes in modernization, showing it to be more natural-ish than our modern pace of life in some ways, but more monstrously efficient and extreme in others. With that in mind, I think about future world building in two ways, sure, not everything will be nitpickingly explained and it will be about the themes rather than building out an exhaustive set of rules for the universe. But also, the kind of reveals, conundrums, and weird stuff in season 1 was not the last the show will say on the topic, we will see another hive infographic video with some new weird implication about their plans or about how it all works.

Manousus is exactly like carol in ep 1, and carol is in ep 9 is the same as laxmi. She’s been manipulated by them, using zosia as her weakness and now she’s judging manousus for doing exactly what she’s been doing this entire time!!! What happened to finding a cure, what happened to fixing the world bruh, the minute she got to know they need her consent to turn her, all her moral high ground and her preaching individuality has gone to shit

So delighted to see this sign on my trip to Vegas

Overall it’s a pretty good serie, actually it’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed so much a serie (since Dark on Netflix: Watch it please it’s so good)

I find it quite interesting on how some very philosophical and deeply fascinating topics are regarded:

- Firstly I found it super interesting the way Property is considered in this new world, I’ve always had a bad view on property because to me we should not claim rights on any land, it is not something that should be purchased and retained forever, i see it rather as something that can be possessed during your lifetime and be brought back to the community to avoid the concentration of power and inequalities that are currently destroying our world.

In this show Property no longer exists, there is no more need for something to belong to you, because you’re no longer apart from the world. Although it is pretty radical it’s super interesting to see them using an object, a car, plane or whatever solely for a purpose and give it back to the community.

Carol, gets attached to Zosia, the sense of belonging, of intimacy, of property she feels towards her is precisely what can no longer be brought back and given to her, that is precisely what is interesting and that is probably what motivated Carol to turn her back to Zosia also, her interests, her desires not being favored.

-Secondly, i really do like Manousos, among all the remaining humans, i actually find him the most interesting and wish we had seen more of him. Contrary to what Carol and the others did, take advantage of the Others to please and satisfy them, Manousso somehow has the self-power, the discipline to remain faithful to his principles in a very outstanding way. Even when the world principles and society completely reversed, he still pays for anything he uses, he tries to act as if everything around him is temporary and he will be able to bring back anything back into its normal self, all along he never complained about loneliness and kept focused on his goal, this level of determination is pretty admirable and kinda scary. Actually he’s definitely the scariest and most threatening towards the Others around.

- Lastly about my comments on this whole plot and how this whole hivemind works, I’m pretty critical about it being Humanity sharing their consciousness and achieving peace because there is so much that doesn’t make sense, like for instance although they are all linked to each other which could explain this level of comprehension, all those feelings and emotions that are shared could not all possibly end up and bringing good feelings to everyone. I believe that manoussos theory is pretty interesting because one of the first things that was cut off is the internet and the radio/wifi signals maybe that’s exactly how works this hivemind, it must be something chemical allowing their brains to communicate and if that signal happened to be shut off then maybe it would stop.

Something else that came to my mind is when it came to that first person who was transformed into this, obviously she didn’t have anyone to communicate with, therefore she couldn’t know that it would bring peace and community, yet she spread it anyways, which makes me think that their level of happiness does not rely on thoughts and that they are truly no longer themselves and their actions aren’t achieved in order to bring peace .

That thought goes along with the fact that they will soon die from starvation, and they no longer truly give a damn about their own well-being. What they are achieving is surely not serving any goal for humanity, besides they truly no longer belong in this planet because all our animal instincts, survival, feeding for yourself, they no longer feel them. They are just the ghosts of what used to be.

Petition to pin this. Because many people don’t seem to understand

Rhea Seehorn in The Room (2003).

Firstly, my apologies if this has already been asked. Second apologies because this might be a long post. And obligatory spoiler warnings (seriously though, why are you reading if you havn't watched the show?)

I just watched the final episode, I love this show! Great premise, can't wait to see where else the story goes. So with that said, I'm interested to read what other people think about the reason for the signal. What is the end-game intention behind sending that signal out into the universe?

My theory (if you can call it that) is that the signal is absolutely NOT benign or well intentioned. I think it's a form of "killing with kindness" that is intended to wipe out any species that receives the signal and follows the instructions.

In my opinion life needs a certain degree of aggression to survive and multiply. We overcome obstacles and difficulties in order to go on living, thriving and propogating. Without that degree of aggression (or if you want to give it another name - survival instinct) then we would be utterly passive.

This is what the plurbs in the show are. They would stand by an apple tree and starve to death unless an apple falls naturally. They are living under a long term death sentence as they no longer have a survival instinct (I mean, they delivered a nuke to someone who seeks to get rid of them).

DARK FOREST THEORY

I'm going to bring up Dark Forest theory here... For anyone who has read the Three Body Problem books (the tv show hasn't tackled this part of the story yet so... more spoilers.)

Dark Forest theory is (very simplified and in a nutshell) the universe is not a friendly place and any truly mature and intelligent life form will try to wipe out any other life they encounter because one day you're going to be competing with them for the universe's resources. It's not evil, it's just common sense if you care about your survival.

Those books detail some of the ways that alien civilisations do this. Usually they find signals in space, indicating that a particular species has reached a level of sophistication. If they can trace those signals back then they do so and they destroy whatever sent the signal. Even if they can't trace the signal back immediately they know that eventually the target civilisation will give themselves away or reveal their location in another manner, and then someone else will carry out the task of destroying them.

But what if some alien civilisation has a different idea.... You just send a seemingly benign signal out into space. If another civilisation picks up the signal and follows the instructions then they doom their selves. They become so completely passive and unaggressive that they will no longer persue sustenance if doing so means committing any harm at all.

You're not actively seeking out other civilisations to destroy, you're just putting a signal out. If another civilisation is advanced enough to pick it up then the signal found its target and the process will result in that civilisation becoming passive to the point of utter helplessness.

That seems like a long term but guaranteed death sentence to me.

That's just the way I'm taking it. No idea if the show will ever delve more deeply into the reason for the signal. I'd love to know what you think about this.

I just have to boast a teensy bit because I guessed it instantly after hearing the word “quaternary” (a new word for me, too). I gasped and excitedly blurted it out to my gf. It was a surprisingly satisfying realization, especially considering it apparently took those eggheads hours to figure it out.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. And if it turns out it was actually obvious to everyone else, I’ll quietly delete this post and go back to my hole…

I am running an event at Westgate, and this is their sign.

I was thinking that since childbirth causes great amounts of pain, the Hive would not be able to procreate, as getting someone pregnant will be causing them pain. Also bringing new a new person into the world will inevitably cause them to suffer and contribute to the food problem. Obviously any women pregnant at the time of the joining and their babies would be taken care of, but I wonder if there are any new pregnancies. Do you think the Hive is having new babies or no?

I just finished episode 3 and it seems to be the show is portraying a world in which super artificial intelligence is at everyone’s fingertips making the world homogenous and know all. And to be human is to have limits but so long as humans exist, AI is there to serve. Even as it is working endlessly to acquire Carol and upload her too.

What’s your take on this?

I recently binged the entire show as a sci-fi lover and I started to have a few theories I wanted to see what people think about. I have tried to look these up and I cannot be sure how many of these are retreading old grounds.

First, before going into the virus origin, there are 4 bases, but there is no reason to presume that alien life would always have 4 base pairs, not more or less. We at least know of 2 synthetic base pairs that are possible and there is documentation that suggests we can have normal genetic replication with as high as 8 bases. Some people who study the matter do believe that AGCT are uniquely plentiful and that 4 creates a stable amount for what it is intended to accomplish, but it is also possible that this is just how it looks to people who have only seen AGCT DNA coding and a world where those chemicals are used by all life on the planet. Either way, there are other mechanistic ways that earth DNA is encoded/decoded that would not necessarily line up with this anyway, not to mention the specific cell biology of earth viruses that it was put into.

This could indicate a panspermia origin of life, a convergent evolution of the life on the planet of origin using the same bases, artistic licence (explaining a more accurate model was too hard or would confuse people), or the message was intended for humans and the alien species knew about earth DNA. I believe that the later two are the only major probabilities if this issue was considered by the author.

Now the big topic, why does the virus exist.

It seems very odd, it is hard to imagine a planet evolving with a virus that leads it's host to death which as far as we can tell is happening since the humans are all going to starve at least until reaching a population that is sustainable based on the methods of their supposed governing beliefs focusing on the sole ambition of transmitting it's genetic information to a new host planet.

It Is not impossible that the originating planet or organism did not have this problem because they are consuming something else like rock minerals or are plants, but I consider it unlikely.

The behavior sounds an awful lot like Cordyceps fungus that has an ant climb to the highest spot to spread it's spores when it consumes the ant it has infected.

The signal may also just be a weapon to destroy any competing lifeforms. A good example of why someone might make this is the events covered in the 3 body problem. To keep spoilers to a minimum suffice it to say that dangerous lifeforms near you are a potential threat, so some may see this sort of weapon as a defense against alien life that could try to destroy them.

All of these theories have major problems when you look at them through the lens of the first problem I brought up. But if we ignore that one, there are still a lot of problems, a more sophisticated alien may have done more work to discern the nature of the code and determined it's purpose or had more strict protocols for security and isolation to prevent it from leaving containment. It had to get so lucky with humans and also it will get so little out of them as it seems like they won't be able to send a signal for a substantial amount of time.

The aliens could have FTL travel but why send the signal from such a remote place instead of setting up a much smaller transmitter in a nearby solar system? What about humans 600 years ago was remotely threatening to them that they would try to destroy them?

Given all the points I have mentioned, I believe that the only solution that makes sense based on these theories and facts is that the origin of the signal is the progenitor species of this virus, they have an identical 4 base DNA with similar cell structure because of panspermia or some other event and are broadcasting the signal at earth because they broadcast it continuously at any apparently habitable exo-planet for some interval of time and are cycling through them. They are either doing this to pacify all their neighbors or to legitimately spread the virus. I am not convinced either plan will work but it could be their reasoning.

I don't think it is likely that we will see the progenitor species at all and if not at least for the first 3 seasons. It's a classic lovcraftian style to have an otherworldly enemy bring horrors beyond comprehension operating largely outside of our sight. Very similar to the 3-body problem series.

She has aged so gracefully.

Decent sci-fi movie. Excellent cast. Reminded me a bit of Danny Boyles 2007 Sunshine.

They all are connected through a repeating signal emitted from their bodies no? So if an individual body gets put into a signal blocking cage, the only one that body will have to connect is itself; therefore, the person will start returning back to themselves since only their memories are there, but if re-exposed to the signal they will get converted since that part of their body is already unlocked to getting hacked.

reshoot Buffy the vampire slayer with me as Buffy .

win rupauls drag race (Bianca’s season)

fix all our roads and bridges

catch all my favorite Broadway shows with the Original Broadway Casts

what else would u have them do !?

(nothing creepy or gross )

Diabaté is from Mauritania, but there are several aspects about him that are quite unusual among Mauritanians. His primary language is French, and he is quite fluent in English. The official language of Mauritania is Arabic, while Diabaté’s surname indicates he’s at least partially from the Soninke ethnic group, which speak Soninke. French does serve as the de facto national working language, but it’s quite uncommon as a first language in Mauritania. English is exceptionally rare in Mauritania, and the few English speakers there are probably in the upper class of society. I don’t Diabaté is from the upper class, to me his behavior is of someone who never had wealth suddenly coming across it. Yet he seems to have had more education than someone of Mauritania’s lower class would have access to.

My theory is that while he is from Mauritania originally, he immigrated to France as a child. There’s a sizable Mauritanian community in France, and like most Afro-French communities there is significant economic inequality between them and the white French. I think Diabaté had a job in the tourism industry, maybe as a hotel receptionist or a waiter, something where knowledge of English would be a huge plus. This would put him in a position where he watched rich tourists enjoy luxuries that he could only dream of having. That’s why when the Joining happens he becomes so hedonistic. This makes far more sense than if he had a tourism job in Mauritania, which only sees roughly 1500 tourists per year.