I’m not sure I’m convinced. They don’t seem to be struggling with consensus on any other matters, so that kind of implies they’re just one single consciousness rather than a gestalt of conflicting ones. I don’t think the individuals are still in there, or they’re so completely subsumed they might as well be gone.
As for their vulnerability to emotional outbursts I’m betting that whatever happened with the immune survivors has made them into transmitters but not receivers for whatever psychic frequency the collective operates on. Which is why they cannot disobey or lie to her about anything except their “biological imperatives” (and even then only passively) and cannot handle her negative emotions since it disrupts the positive emotions they’re using to keep everyone’s consciousnesses subdued.
I’m not sure I’m convinced. They don’t seem to be struggling with consensus on any other matters, so that kind of implies they’re just one single consciousness rather than a gestalt of conflicting ones. I don’t think the individuals are still in there, or they’re so completely subsumed they might as well be gone.
As for their vulnerability to emotional outbursts I’m betting that whatever happened with the immune survivors has made them into transmitters but not receivers for whatever psychic frequency the collective operates on. Which is why they cannot disobey or lie to her about anything except their “biological imperatives” (and even then only passively) and cannot handle her negative emotions since it disrupts the positive emotions they’re using to keep everyone’s consciousnesses subdued.