In Pluribus, Groupthink Spells the End of Art

There are no working artists in Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus. Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), the show’s protagonist, used to be a successful romantasy novelist, but then a virus of unknown origin swept across the globe, killing millions and uniting its infected survivors into a kind of peaceful, planetary hive mind. Carol was inexplicably spared, along with 12 otherwise unrelated individuals, but she hasn’t really been in a writing mood since the end of the world/dawn of the utopia. The hive mind—which is what I’ll call the shared consciousness of most of the other people on Pluribus—is keen on advancing scientific research as well as pursuing innovations in logistics. But, at least in our limited view of them, it doesn’t seem that the hive mind has any interest in composing symphonies or painting landscapes or, say, writing prestige streaming series. Members of the hive mind methodically gobble up the nutrients they need to survive; the individuals order food and products and services from an essentially limitless menu that the hive mind is eager to fulfill for them. But no one is creating anything. Everyone on Earth is a pure consumer now.