hivemind
See also: hive mind
English
Alternative forms
- hive mind
Etymology
From hive + mind, originally applied to beehives. As a metaphor for collective intelligence popularized in Out of Control (1992) by Kevin Kelly.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhaɪv.maɪnd/
Noun
hivemind (plural hiveminds)
- (science fiction) A collection of minds somehow linked or unified, possibly as if by telepathy.
- Synonym: groupmind
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Rachni Codex entry:
- Though now extinct, the rachni once threatened every species in Citadel space. Over 2000 years ago, explorers foolishly opened a mass relay to a previously-unknown system and encountered something never seen before or since: a species of spacefaring insects guided by a hive-mind intelligence.
- 2011 February 15, Michael Chorost, “‘World Wide Mind’”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- We have the villainous Borg of Star Trek: a hive mind of individuals robbed of their individuality, communicating with each other not by touch or even speech but by omnipresent computer networks.
- (by extension) Collective intelligence, especially when facilitated by communication technology.
- Synonym: swarm intelligence
- 1992, Kevin Kelly, Out of Control, Addison-Wesley, published 1994, →ISBN, page 12:
- The marvel of “hive mind” is that no one is in control, and yet an invisible hand governs, a hand that emerges from very dumb members.
- 2006 May 29, Jaron Lanier, “Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism”, in Edge:
- The hive mind should be thought of as a tool. Empowering the collective does not empower individuals — just the reverse is true.
- 2006 December 10, Steven Johnson, “Digital Maoism”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- In any case, culture and technology are increasingly reliant on the hive mind–and whatever its faults, Lanier's broadside helps us consider the consequences of this momentous development.
- 2011 July 23, Tim Adams, “How the internet created an age of rage”, in The Observer:
- There are many places, of course, on the internet where a utopian ideal of "here comes everybody" prevails, where the anonymous hive mind is fantastically curious and productive.
- 2019, Sarah Rose Cavanagh, Hivemind, Orion, →ISBN:
- It is not my metaphor–the notion of a hivemind, a group sort of conciousness and/or collective body of knowledge, has long been discussed in both academic settings and in common parlance.
- 2019, Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, →ISBN:
- Just as industrial society was imagined as a well-functioning machine, instrumentarian society is imagined as a human simulation of machine learning systems: a confluent hive mind in which each element learns and operates in concert with every other element.
- 2020 March 30, Andrew Jacobs; Rachel Abrams, “Hive Mind of Makers Rises to Meet Pandemic”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- A national hive mind has come to life on an open source Facebook group where hundreds of strangers trade tips on making respirator masks with baby wipes and paper towels, […]
- (derogatory) A group of people who uncritically share beliefs or mindlessly follow orders.
- Synonym: sheeple
- 2010 December 10, Paul Krugman, “Hive-minds and Kleptocrats”, in The Conscience of a Liberal:
- Lehman, AIG, Anglo-Irish, etc. were not cases of immortal hive-minds at work; they were cases of kleptocrats run wild.
Further reading
hive mind on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
group mind (science fiction) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia