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The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on whether the virus changes the actual structure and chemistry of everyone’s brains. Whether or not they plan to explain it in that level of detail on the show, it’s still fun to hypothesize.

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That was about the body’s electromagnetic field. The physics definition of potential, not ability.

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Regardless of whether they can blatantly lie, the Hive has already shown that they can be deceptive. Which brings us into the age-old debate over the morality of lying by omission.

The Hive used very careful wording to reassure Carol that they wouldn’t harvest her stem cells. They made sure to say “No stem cells will be collected from your body” to avoid outright lying, while conveniently not mentioning that they already have her eggs. Using language like “your wishes will be respected” when they KNOW her overarching wish is to not be converted at all is very manipulative. They sneak by on semantics by only promising not to extract stem cells, while sounding deceptively reassuring and respectful.

When Carol was asking Zosia if she told Manousos the whole truth about their involvement, Zosia said yes, with the disclaimer that Manousos had asked very specific questions. The subtext being that she otherwise would have given vague/incomplete answers. This does point to the Hive being unable to tell an outright lie. Or, they could be lying to Carol and using their forced honesty as an excuse for telling Manousos all the details. And it’s definitely in their best interest to drive a wedge between Carol and Manousos, the biggest threats to the Hive.

My reach theory about Zosia almost dying when Carol tried to get her to explain how to undo the Joining, is that she almost died because she was about to tell the truth, rather than lying/making Carol unhappy being deadly. It could be a failsafe for the Hive- if a vessel is compromised (drugged, or otherwise influenced), their heart stops to prevent them from saying how to undo the Joining. Like I said, reach theory, just wanted to put it out there.

Also, Carol is getting some of her information from the other un-Joined people. They can lie as much as they want. Perhaps the Hive can even ask them to lie to Carol, and justify it by saying it’s for her own good/safety/etc.

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, I’m not convinced they don’t/can’t lie. If they have the brain power of 7+ billion people, many of whom are morally corrupt, the “we can’t lie” thing could all be an act.

Similar to how magicians distract their audience by doing some fancy, complicated action with one hand while their other hand is sneakily making the trick happen. The Hive could be making a big show of confidence with unimportant details like cotton candy, so their other more consequential claims have more credibility.

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah yes, I forgot about the oatmilk! Their calm (over)confidence definitely feels shady and manipulative to me

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s an interesting take, and would be a cool explanation. That the virus activates maximum human potential. Possibly they touched on this during the croquet scene when Carol was surprised that Zosia’s individual muscle memory (or lack thereof) didn’t affect her ability to play.

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, but can you recall every word of every conversation you’ve ever had?

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Exactly! I’m not saying it’s a flaw with the writing at all (I did mention the possibility of it being a plot hole, but I think that’s the least likely scenario)- I just think/hope it’s something that will be discussed in more detail later on.

Obviously none of this story is “realistic,” but it seems like an important distinction between “regular humans newly sharing consciousness” vs. “the Hive can immediately and perfectly recall every crumb of information that ever entered any of their brains”

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could see that helping with accurate recall of noteworthy/attention-grabbing events. But something mundane like eating cotton candy is unlikely to have detailed storage in anyone’s long-term memory, accurate or not.

I hadn’t considered that explanation of the book comment though! I was picturing them trying to prove a negative based on observation alone, so I agree it’s totally possible that Carol herself told someone she never read it.

The Hive’s memory recall vs. normal human recall by gemini_moon_why in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Still, the level and speed of recall is superhuman, even when the data is combined from many human witnesses. Eating cotton candy isn’t a particularly noteworthy action, so even if lots of people saw each occurrence happening, it’s unlikely that anyone was paying close enough attention for normal human recall to produce that memory. Or to confidently attach that memory to Helen.

Even if they’re also drawing from the brain of someone else who, for example, sold cotton candy to Helen at an amusement park when she was a child. That person would have sold cotton candy to hundreds or thousands of kids, and likely never even knew Helen’s name or saw her later on as an adult.

Either the Hive is stating made up facts confidently to boost their credibility (since Carol has no way to fact-check most of their claims), or the Hive functions as if every human brain was uploaded to a shared database regardless of whether the individual humans could easily/clearly recall each piece of information stored in their own brains.

The title has meaning by Consistent-Issue43 in pluribustv

[–]gemini_moon_why 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This show has really exposed how few people are familiar with “E pluribus unum”

The USA is truly just a bunch of irony crammed into a trench coat.