Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"I think crypto will slowly percolate its way up and people will adopt it gradually as user friendly, cheap products, become available."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Hive Mind | ||
| A group mind. |
As far as I know, the first use of this phrase in mainstream science fiction magazines.
| "They must be constantly in telepathic rapport with each other. Something like the "hive mind" of the bees, even further developed. Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence, just as their bodies combine. They're at least semi-intelligent, judging from the way they were working." |
| Technovelgy from The Face of the Deep,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Captain Future in 1942 Additional resources -
|
If you poke around, you can find earlier usage of the idea, but not in science fiction. For example, in The Philosophy of a Commoner published in 1928, there is this idea:
Science fiction writer James Schmitz picked up the same phrase for use in Second Night of Summer (1950):
Compare to the ring-table from The Universe Wreckers (1930) by Edmond Hamilton, a device which creates a group mind among participants ("...the great metal globe whose strange mechanism made of the thirty minds of the Council members a single mind"). Another example would be the racial mentalities described in StarMaker (1937) by Olaf Stapledon. See also the group ego from Methuselah's Children (1941) by Robert Heinlein. Another similar idea is composite living from The Day the Aliens Came (1995) by Robert Sheckley.
Concerted action of ants, bees, indicates an intelligence not the aggregate of individuals—one intelligence apart directing—a hive mind instead of a bee mind.
"Many very efficient life-forms aren't physically complicated, you know," she went on, letting the sound of her voice ripple steadily into its mind. "Parasitical types, particularly. It's pretty certain, too, that the Halpa have the hive-mind class of intelligence, so what goes for the nerve systems of most of the ones they send through to us might be nothing much more than secondary reflex-transmitters."
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Face of the Deep
More Ideas
and Technology by Edmond Hamilton
Tech news articles related to The Face of the Deep
Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton
Hive Mind-related
news articles:
- Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
| Buy A Galaxy? Maybe Start Smaller |
| Is There A Global Problem With Who Is Having Children? |
| Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine |
| The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
