Not so sure about this angle either. Good theory, but in reality if she's a threat, with the amount of knowledge and capability the mind hive has, they could take these individuals out with a sniper bullet or a drone missile attack without her even knowing what hit her.

To me it seems like they "need" her to turn though as a missing piece of the puzzle that she and/or the others have.

javajaws said:

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aTmAg said:

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javajaws said:

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Regardless, I don't really think that's what she'll be doing. It would be a pretty boring show if that was the case.

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My point wasn't to say that I think she will genocide the whole planet.


It's to explain why I can see why the infected are over-the-top benevolent and submissive. To them, people like Carol have infinite power. It's not necessarily that they are really friendly, against all killing, or anything like that. It's that they have no option at the moment.

Now if they can figure out their epilepsy or how to infect the uninfected, then all bets are off. I bet their benevolence goes away.

So Carol is on the clock.

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I can't see the point of Carol's existence being why they won't kill insects. That doesn't make sense to me.

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I hadn't thought that, but here's a plausible explanation:

Vegans are vehemently opposed to killing animals. Such people would probably refuse to "join" if it involved being part of a collective that killed animals. So to play it safe, it makes sense for the infected "group" to take a vegan stance to sell joining to all 13. Furthermore, Laxmi is from India. Some in India are Jain (practice Jainism) which forbids the intentional killing of animals (including insects).

213 Grove said:

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Not so sure about this angle either. Good theory, but in reality if she's a threat, with the amount of knowledge and capability the mind hive has, they could take these individuals out with a sniper bullet or a drone missile attack without her even knowing what hit her.

To me it seems like they "need" her to turn though as a missing piece of the puzzle that she and/or the others have.

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When she shook what's-her-face, the entire hive world seized for 2 minutes. Even if I'm wrong, then that is still a big vulnerability. Those 13 people could easily kill every single one of them by just taking turns shaking people.

Maybe such a hive mind species is simply incapable of "killing". That obviously if one hiver kills another hiver, then they all "feel it" (and maybe get PTSD from it). That the only time killing would be okay is if one of them is in immense pain (that they all feel) and they kill it off to end the misery. That killing any of the 13 to them would be like us killing our own child. In this same vein, perhaps that is why they seize up when merely getting shook. It seems the hive mind would have zero experience with violence and aggression, since such an emotion serves zero purpose within a hive mind. It would be evolved out of the system.

So now I have two competing theories.

Finally caught up and there's no praise I can give it that hasn't already been given.

One of the best, most instantly addictive new shows I've seen in years.

What an incredible premise, executed to perfection so far.

Also, it's crazy how much watching this basically feels like using ChatGPT, except in prestige series form. All of humanity basically turned into Carol & co's own, personal ChatGPT-7-Billion, glitches and all. It's so eerie, in so many ways.

I've also heard it mentioned how others are seeing the infection as a "woke mind virus" metaphor, which is almost as equally believable.

Leave it to Gilligan to write something so good that everyone can graft their own metaphor of choice onto it.

Not sure we know if all other animals joined the hive mind as well? Would explain the do no harm to anything mindset. But so does an interstellar signal meant to create a docile, do no harm, do as told planet - unless the signal was spoofed. If so, then the theme around tricking ppl into mass RNA meds would also land…

Mr.Milkshake said:

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Not sure we know if all other animals joined the hive mind as well? Would explain the do no harm to anything mindset. But so does an interstellar signal meant to create a docile, do no harm, do as told planet - unless the signal was spoofed. If so, then the theme around tricking ppl into mass RNA meds would also land…

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I'm no animal-ologist, but it seems that lots of animals would die if they don't eat the prey they have evolved to eat. Like I assume cheetahs would die on a vegetarian diet.

If animals aren't part of the mind virus (which I believe to be the case) how did they design the virus to target humans only? Even if it did affect animals how did they design it for life on earth in general? That could point to some bigger questions if they decide to go there. Is all life in the universe similar? Have they been here before? Etc.

javajaws said:

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If animals aren't part of the mind virus (which I believe to be the case) how did they design the virus to target humans only? Even if it did affect animals how did they design it for life on earth in general? That could point to some bigger questions if they decide to go there. Is all life in the universe similar? Have they been here before? Etc.

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Maybe they merely have to avoid tongue kissing other species?

(But then mosquitoes)

Perhaps there's something about consciousness that transcends species that makes it work for other intelligent life forms but not animals.

This may be a silly question, but I am guessing the "infected" have lost all ability to formulate opinions? You can have a humanity-wide-braintrust consensus on hard data, or how to do certain things (operate an aircraft etc), but there is no one "right" opinion or set of opinions (aside from mine of course)...and I would assume that the concept of opinions or beliefs would cause too much internal chaos and probably lead to meltdowns/self destruction? Yeah, they might as well be AI bots.

The story isn't that dissimilar from invasion of the body snatchers. The hive mind aspect is interesting and pretty unique from my memory of movies like this show.

I will be surprised if the aliens who sent the code did so out of benevolence. Might be a great way to eliminate competition with no shots fired which would be in line with the Dark Forest theory as an answer to Fermi's paradox.

But at this stage of the game I have no idea what Carol can do to reverse what has happened. She may simply be the eyewitness to the end.

I was definitely thinking about the dark forest when i was watching it and they detected the signal.

Is it for the recipient's destruction? Or just a way to make a future combatant into harmless neighbor?

Hogties said:

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The story isn't that dissimilar from invasion of the body snatchers. The hive mind aspect is interesting and pretty unique from my memory of movies like this show.

I will be surprised if the aliens who sent the code did so out of benevolence. Might be a great way to eliminate competition with no shots fired which would be in line with the Dark Forest theory as an answer to Fermi's paradox.

But at this stage of the game I have no idea what Carol can do to reverse what has happened. She may simply be the eyewitness to the end.

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Might be a way to "recruit" societies into an "alliance" of sorts. That an infected human race would quickly develop space traveling technology or effectively faster than light communication to get in touch with the parent civilization and join their hive mind.

Maybe the signal is a civilization virus. That there is no cohesive "mission" but it's like a computer virus that infects civilizations rather than computers. So maybe we are the gazillionth in a chain of infected civilizations.

aTmAg said:

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Hogties said:

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The story isn't that dissimilar from invasion of the body snatchers. The hive mind aspect is interesting and pretty unique from my memory of movies like this show.

I will be surprised if the aliens who sent the code did so out of benevolence. Might be a great way to eliminate competition with no shots fired which would be in line with the Dark Forest theory as an answer to Fermi's paradox.

But at this stage of the game I have no idea what Carol can do to reverse what has happened. She may simply be the eyewitness to the end.

---

Might be a way to "recruit" societies into an "alliance" of sorts. That an infected human race would quickly develop space traveling technology or effectively faster than light communication to get in touch with the parent civilization and join their hive mind.

Maybe the signal is a civilization virus. That there is no cohesive "mission" but it's like a computer virus that infects civilizations rather than computers. So maybe we are the gazillionth in a chain of infected civilizations.

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I know it's early, but what I love about this show, is pretty much what I loved so much about Breaking Bad...there were always so many ways it coud go and I never felt like I had a handle on it, and that I was just along for the insane ride.

It would be interesting if the rest of humanity wasn't even the danger. They were just lambs waiting for slaughter for when the aliens arrive and Carol becomes their only hope for survival.

El Gallo Blanco said:

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aTmAg said:

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Hogties said:

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The story isn't that dissimilar from invasion of the body snatchers. The hive mind aspect is interesting and pretty unique from my memory of movies like this show.

I will be surprised if the aliens who sent the code did so out of benevolence. Might be a great way to eliminate competition with no shots fired which would be in line with the Dark Forest theory as an answer to Fermi's paradox.

But at this stage of the game I have no idea what Carol can do to reverse what has happened. She may simply be the eyewitness to the end.

---

Might be a way to "recruit" societies into an "alliance" of sorts. That an infected human race would quickly develop space traveling technology or effectively faster than light communication to get in touch with the parent civilization and join their hive mind.

Maybe the signal is a civilization virus. That there is no cohesive "mission" but it's like a computer virus that infects civilizations rather than computers. So maybe we are the gazillionth in a chain of infected civilizations.

---

I know it's early, but what I love about this show, is pretty much what I loved so much about Breaking Bad...there were always so many ways it coud go and I never felt like I had a handle on it, and that I was just along for the insane ride.

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And whatever the prevailing theories always end up being wrong, and actual plot better.

schmendeler said:

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It would be interesting if the rest of humanity wasn't even the danger. They were just lambs waiting for slaughter for when the aliens arrive and Carol becomes their only hope for survival.

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I'd think they would use humanity for slave labor or a as a squishy CPU cluster. Earth is nothing but a big rock in space without life. We are what makes this place special.

There's going to be some mechanism by which memory storage is extracted and shard, along with what connects the hive mind, or singular mind that controls each host.doesn't seem like it's externally controlled though, bc why would it/they be so transparent with the uninfected? If the connection is locally biological, host to host brain waves or something, wonder if there is a distance limitation where if a host is far enough from another host, it's disconnected - they doesn't seem likely though if they got to ppl on the space station.

Another perplexing piece of the puzzle is how they engineered the world to 'activate' at the same time. The first few infected were near instant, whereas the mass infection was set off at the same time.

aTmAg said:

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Hogties said:

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The story isn't that dissimilar from invasion of the body snatchers. The hive mind aspect is interesting and pretty unique from my memory of movies like this show.

I will be surprised if the aliens who sent the code did so out of benevolence. Might be a great way to eliminate competition with no shots fired which would be in line with the Dark Forest theory as an answer to Fermi's paradox.

But at this stage of the game I have no idea what Carol can do to reverse what has happened. She may simply be the eyewitness to the end.

---

Might be a way to "recruit" societies into an "alliance" of sorts. That an infected human race would quickly develop space traveling technology or effectively faster than light communication to get in touch with the parent civilization and join their hive mind.

Maybe the signal is a civilization virus. That there is no cohesive "mission" but it's like a computer virus that infects civilizations rather than computers. So maybe we are the gazillionth in a chain of infected civilizations.

---

Maybe the end-state isn't entirely organic? Humans are just being prepped for the next stage...


Resistance is futile.

You will be assimilated.

Mr.Milkshake said:

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There's going to be some mechanism by which memory storage is extracted and shard, along with what connects the hive mind, or singular mind that controls each host.doesn't seem like it's externally controlled though, bc why would it/they be so transparent with the uninfected? If the connection is locally biological, host to host brain waves or something, wonder if there is a distance limitation where if a host is far enough from another host, it's disconnected - they doesn't seem likely though if they got to ppl on the space station.

Another perplexing piece of the puzzle is how they engineered the world to 'activate' at the same time. The first few infected were near instant, whereas the mass infection was set off at the same time.

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Not to get too nerdy/technical, but if connected via quantum entanglement distance would be irrelevant. They could connect consciousnesses across the universe instantaneously. Everyone could have basically just taken a dose of alien shrooms that opened their minds up to a quantum plane of existence, allowing themselves to be controlled, etc.

Quantum entanglement cannot be used to break the speed of light limitation.

TCTTS said:

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Yeah, you're the last person I want to have this conversation with, so you can have this one.

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Because you know you will lose (again)?

Don't take my word for it. Just go search "why can't quantum entanglement break the speed of light communication limit?" You will find plenty of explanations.

TCTTS said:

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Mr.Milkshake said:

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There's going to be some mechanism by which memory storage is extracted and shard, along with what connects the hive mind, or singular mind that controls each host.doesn't seem like it's externally controlled though, bc why would it/they be so transparent with the uninfected? If the connection is locally biological, host to host brain waves or something, wonder if there is a distance limitation where if a host is far enough from another host, it's disconnected - they doesn't seem likely though if they got to ppl on the space station.

Another perplexing piece of the puzzle is how they engineered the world to 'activate' at the same time. The first few infected were near instant, whereas the mass infection was set off at the same time.

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Not to get too nerdy/technical, but if connected via quantum entanglement distance would be irrelevant. They could connect consciousnesses across the universe instantaneously. Everyone could have basically just taken a dose of alien shrooms that opened their minds up to a quantum plane of existence, allowing themselves to be controlled, etc.

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Thought about this but figured it would be too sci fi for this show. I'm all for some cixin style science though!

The interference / spaz out when strong emotions are directed at them made me think there is some brain wave communication. And when pirate lady momentarily is absent minded while appearing to contact the other uninfected.

aTmAg said:

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TCTTS said:

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Yeah, you're the last person I want to have this conversation with, so you can have this one.

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Because you know you will lose (again)?

Don't take my word for it. Just go search "why can't quantum entanglement break the speed of light communication limit?" You will find plenty of explanations.

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Oooh, you guys are so smart but I can dunk a basketball and you never will…

I would imagine,if I'm allowed to opine that ultimately, there has to be a queen bee ala The Borg or as seen in, The Day After Tomorrow.

show will dance around for 5 or 6 episodes then get down to eliminating The Big Kahuna.

Or do we end up with some sort of alien species arrival toward the end of season 1 and Carol and the hive ultimately end up teaming up?

Southlake said:

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aTmAg said:

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TCTTS said:

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Yeah, you're the last person I want to have this conversation with, so you can have this one.

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Because you know you will lose (again)?

Don't take my word for it. Just go search "why can't quantum entanglement break the speed of light communication limit?" You will find plenty of explanations.

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Oooh, you guys are so smart but I can dunk a basketball and you never will…

I would imagine,if I'm allowed to opine that ultimately, there has to be a queen bee ala The Borg or as seen in, The Day After Tomorrow.

show will dance around for 5 or 6 episodes then get down to eliminating The Big Kahuna.

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I sorta hope not. That would make this show a re-tread of other shows.

Wait, we already know it infects animals. Duh - scientist gets bitten by the rat that's playing. They must be part of the hive mind or at least similarly affected, which would explain the inability to harm animals purposely - it would be harming itself.

The rat was also playing dead in its cage to be removed, and remained that way until the scientist removed glove. I think that hints that the virus either connects the brain to some other intelligence source, unlocks a higher intelligence, or has some coded behavior patterns in the RNA depending on host type.

Lastly, whoever sent the signal would have to be extremely familiar with or similar to earth life

I think you are right about the bigger questions. I enjoyed the last part of the episode quite a lot.

VERY curious to see whatever idea hit Carol right there at the end. So good.