How Does the Hive Mind Work in ‘Pluribus?
You know what it is great for a show like Pluribus? It’s that we don’t really know what’s going on, so we can speculate. Just like in real life! In case you haven’t seen this series, which has just finished its first season, here is a quick recap:
A radio transmission arrives from a planet 600 light years away and the message turns out to be the RNA code of an alien virus. Some fool synthesizes it, and it infects almost everyone on Earth, causing them to act as a single entity – a hive mind with goals, values, knowledge, everything in common. The title of the show comes from the old American motto “E pluribus unum“- among many others, one.
Only 13 people remain safe, including Carol Sturka, an unpleasant novelist who wishes to retain her individuality, against all the collective’s efforts to absorb it. We don’t know for sure how the hive mind works, but it appears that plurbs (infected people) unconsciously communicate with each other through radio waves. Talk to one of them and you’ll talk to all of them.
This has advantages. For example, there is no need to memorize phone numbers. You can call any number and the same “person” answers. The downside is that they aren’t really a person.
Regardless, if the radio theory is correct, how could this collective consciousness work from a physical perspective? Let’s investigate!
What is a radio wave and how to make it?
In case you forgot (or never knew), we listened to music on devices called radios. There were two types of stations: AM radio with broadcast frequencies from 535 to 1,700 kilohertz (kHZ) and FM radio from 88 to 108 megahertz (MHz).
However, radio waves are electromagnetic (EM) waves. This means that they are made of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. In other words, it is a type of light, along with visible light, infrared, microwave, x-ray, etc., differing only in frequency and wavelength. Radio waves are at one end of the EM spectrum, with the lowest frequencies and longest wavelengths. This makes them ideal for long distance communications.
GOOD. But how to make a radio wave? Since EM waves use changing electric fields, you can induce a wave by accelerating an electric charge. The radio station you no longer listen to has a very large electrical wire called an antenna. Electric current flows up and down the wire, accelerating the electrons. There’s your radio wave.
But can a human body do this? Well… maybe? Our nervous system is essentially made up of electrical circuits, although the “current” is made up of charged ions, not electrons. Maybe the alien civilization figured out how to exploit this.
How far can Plurbs communicate?
So if we’re right, every ancient human is now essentially a radio transmitter and receiver. A plub sends a signal which is detected by others, who transmit it to others, etc. It looks like a kind of decentralized mesh network. But how far can a plub transmit?
First, let’s estimate the total power of the transmission, that is, the amount of energy radiated per second. A person’s metabolic system produces approximately 80 watts of power at rest, and this power is used for basic functions such as breathing, pumping blood, digesting food, and more. For a plub, let’s say 10 percent is spent on radio transmission, so that’s 8 watts.
Let’s also assume that plurbs are “isotropic” transmitters, meaning they emit energy in all directions equally, like in the old RKO Radio Pictures logo. As it radiates outward, this power spreads across an expanding sphere. The total power remains the same as at the source (P.0), but the power per area, which we call intensity (I), declines. This means that the power of a signal decreases with distance (r). Knowing the surface area of a sphere, we can easily calculate the intensity:
