hive mind n.

= group mind n.

  • 1943 O. J. Friend Ali Baba, Junior in Captain Future Winter 30/1 Oscar J. Friend bibliography

    They must be constantly in telepathic rapport with each other. Something like the ‘hive mind’ of the bees, even further developed.

  • 1950 J. H. Schmitz Second Night of Summer in Galaxy Science Fiction Dec. 22/2 page image James H. Schmitz bibliography

    It’s pretty certain, too, that the Halpa have the hive-mind class of intelligence, so what goes for the nerve systems of most of the ones they send through to us might be nothing much more than secondary reflex-transmitters.

  • 1957 A. Norton Star Born (1966) 39 Andre Norton bibliography

    All the buildings were the same shape and size… Raf wondered if those who had built them had not been humanoid at all, but perhaps insects with a hive mind.

  • 1960 C. D. Simak Golden Bugs in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 107/1 page image Clifford D. Simak bibliography

    I'm convinced that these aliens must necessarily operate on the hive-mind principle. We face not one of them alone nor the total number of them but we face the sum total of them as a single unit, as a single mind and a single expression of purpose and performance.

  • 1982 J. T. Sapienza in Dragon Magazine Aug. 71/1

    Their enemies…include a reptilian race and an insectoid hive-mind race.

  • 1984 W. Gibson Neuromancer (1989) iv. xxiii. 269 William Gibson bibliography

    Wintermute was hive mind, decision maker, effecting change in the world outside.

  • 1992 A. Steele Labyrinth of Night 199 Allen Steele bibliography

    Paul has become convinced that the pseudo-Cooties interact as a sort of hive mind, similar to that of terrestrial insects. The most appropriate analogy might be to driver ants. Given their past behavior, I have to agree with his assessment. If the original Cooties, as represented by their automechanical counterparts, are highly evolved insects, then this would seem to make sense.

  • 1995 B. Stableford Theodore Sturgeon in Interzone Mar. 45/2 page image Brian Stableford

    When it sets about ‘reassembling’ the hive-mind which it assumes to be the natural state of affairs on Earth—bringing an assortment of frightened, suffering, incompetent individuals into a gestalt much larger than that featured in More Than Human—it creates an entity far more powerful than the one of which it is a part.

  • 1997 R. Hatch & C. Golden Battlestar Galactica: Armageddon iii. 31 Richard Hatch Christopher Golden bibliography

    The mindless drone Centurions were essentially a hive mind, responsive to the Cylon Imperious Leader, a mysterious figure whose intelligence seemed light years beyond others of his kind.

  • 2002 A. Reynolds Redemption Ark 25 Alastair Reynolds bibliography

    Then, just when she had almost been turned into a spider, had almost had her own memories erased and been pumped full of the implants that would bind her into their hive mind, the zombies arrived.

  • 2014 SciFiNow (#92) 47 page image

    The Borg…will assimilate all they come across into the Hive mind in their pursuit of perfection.


Research requirements

antedating 1950

Earliest cite

James Schmitz, "Second Night of Summer"

Research History
Mike Christie submitted a 1960 cite from Clifford Simak's "The Golden Bugs".
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a reprint of James Schmitz' "Second Night of Summer"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1950 first magazine appearance.
Enoch Forrester submitted a 1982 cite from an article by John Sapienza in Dragon Magazine.
Malcolm Farmer submitted a 2002 cite from Alastair Reynolds' "Redemption Ark".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a 2002 cite from a review by Jonathan Wright in SFX Magazine of Alastair Reynolds' "Redemption Ark".
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1966 reprint of Andre Norton's 1957 "Star Born".
Douglas Winston submitted a 2001 cite from Timothy Zahn's "Angelmass".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1992 cite from Allen Steele's "Labyrinth of Night".
Bill Mullins submitted a 1943 cite from Captain Future.

Added to the OED as a subordinate entry under "hive" in December 2004, with an earliest date of 1950.

Last modified 2021-03-19 13:34:40
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.