one way in which a plural take on telepathy and hiveminds would be interesting to see is that the defining trope we see over and over is that connecting brains together is presented as a way to promote peace and prevent the conflict caused by differences

but plenty of us already know sharing a brain with someone doesn’t entail agreeing with or understanding or even having awareness of them

this isn’t about plurality anymore but i kept thinking.

inverting the standard trope would be even more unrealistic, but i wonder if it would be refreshing at this point. hedgehog’s dilemma times a million, misanthropy becoming an experimentally verified truth. unfiltered exposure to someone else’s mind inevitably leads to rapidly deteriorating mental health converging on mutual hate and malaise.

all of the cognitive shortcuts, assumptions, coping strategies you’ve spent a lifetime writing into your neural circuits would be constantly peeled away and prodded at, as if bitten by teeth meant to fit unto a different groove entirely.

you can hardly conceive how deeply adjusted (inured, even) you are to a brain that ticks a very specific way until every single mental association prompts desync and dissonance with the brain you’re joined to

as i think about it more, i suppose we’ve all considered the horror of forgetting where you end and someone else begins. it isn’t that connection itself is scary, but being unable to disconnect or distinguish is where it becomes intolerable

but is it much less troublesome if you could filter what you share and block what you receive? now you’re no longer connected to the reality of the other person; you see what they allow you to see (what would be most favorable to see).

what would result is an extremely vivid image image of exactly who the two of you both want the other to be. a distortion, but mutually agreed one.

except both can feel the gap between who one is and who would be best for the other. how do you and your pile of unpalatable flaws compare to an ideal scrubbed of all of them? (and is a blank spot in your image‍ ‍‍—‍ a silence in response to a particular question‍ ‍‍—‍ much solace when you know you’re ignorant because the truth is worse?)

at least with two people there must be some common ground. now imagine a group mind: a clockwork where every grinding gear requires a different number of fitting slots turn smooth, or else they chew

that compromise ideal that pleases one pair disgusts another, and both displease a third. one mind regards several at once, even as another lumps that one in with a different clique entirely. the mathematics are severe: quadratically many connections between minds, exponential subsets, and none of them should necessarily align.

yes, i think it would take a miracle for a hivemind not to be some analogue of maddening cosmic horror.