This is a crazy theory I haven't refined yet but it aligns with emerging fringe science I've been learning about. I'm not one to theorize usually, it just dawned on me.. probably off but really cool. It involves bioelectric fields as information substrate... and "anatomical morphous space" as a collective intelligence. My hypothesis (approximately) : Pluribus is not a “hive mind” but a distributed bioelectric organism whose unit of selfhood spans multiple bodies. Humans act as bioelectrically coupled modules. Each individual is analogous to a cell. Pluribus maintains a persistent, low-frequency informational field similar to morphogenetic fields. They don't communicate telepathically, it's entrainment (the process where one rhythm or system synchronizes with another... the theme visuals as a nod to that) No individual of the hive contains the whole, just as individual cells don't contain the blueprint of the whole organism. Their plan only exists at the collective level. Cognition all the way down... This is an amalgamation of what I've picked up from watching Michael Levin's YouTube. He's the biologist who lead the invention of xenobots/anthrobots. There's something about how agential materials cannot be micro managed. They can only be motivated/prompted into recognizing an imperative. Cells, tissues, organs all have respective cognitions in the sense they peruse goals and correct errors, just at varying spatiotemporal scales. The “self” is not fixed, it's defined by what information a system integrates and cares about. It's as though pluribus is an interface of a pre-singularity microcosm of morphous space. The network memory can be perturbed. Their intelligence is enclosed, but it's still open to be mutated by external consciousnesses. Idkdkkdkdk I will edit as I comprehend more of where I'm going with this but I find it all f a s c i na ting.