The terrifying science behind Pluribus and whether Apple TV's hit series could happen in real life

If there's one thing you can count on, it's for sci-fi fans to nitpick every detail about their favorite show or movie. While it's true that massive doses of radiation would kill you instead of giving you superpowers, it's physically impossible to travel faster than light, and artificial gravity isn't actually a thing, the genre continues to push these scientific errors. Most of us don't mind, but for some die-hard science fans, they're there with their pen and paper, ready to write a complaint.

The likes of The Walking Dead and The Last of Us might have seemingly far-fetched ideas about zombie apocalypses marking the end of days, although the latter is somewhat based on the real-life cordyceps infection that's known to cause 'zombie ants'.

Others like Westworld and Black Mirror get worringly close to the real-life advancements of modern technology thanks to rogue humanoid robots and antagonistic artificial intelligence.

Our latest TV addiction is another sci-fi shocker, with Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan delivering a very different kind of story for Pluribus. Moving away from Walter White and his blue meth, Pluribus reunites Gilligan with Better Call Saul's Rhea Seehorn. The Apple TV hit casts her as a grouchy author called Carol Sturka.

When an RNA signal is broadcast from the cosmos, the human race inadvertently creates a virus that turns it into one happy hive mind. Carol is one of only 13 people in the entire world who aren't absorbed into the hive mind, and now, "the most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness."

With Pluribus poised to run for up to four seasons, we're sure there will be plenty of mysteries to unpack, but how scientifically accurate is Gilligan's latest romp?

Speaking to Polygon, Gilligan explained how he based the idea of the hive mind on his experience watching a school of fish during a diving session: "I used to scuba dive a little bit, and I was lucky enough to go down to the Caribbean or whatnot.

"It fascinated me: These beautiful fish, they're all in a line, and then the lead fish all of a sudden turns a corner, like those light cycles in 'Tron.' The fish would all be together, and then they go kchh, and then they go kchh. You can't even see it happen. It's faster than the human eye."

Even though groups of fish aren't actually connected via some alien hive mind (as far as we know), there's more science that helps ground Pluribus in some form of reality.

As noted by SlashFilm, the term 'hive mind' was popularized by sci-fi author James H. Schmitz in the 1950s. Whereas hive minds are typically depicted as a negative thing in the genre, Pluribus goes the other way by representing the potential positives of a communal conscience.

The site reminds us that there are already moves to sync our minds with technology, with the likes of Elon Musk's Neuralink seemingly leading the way in that regard. Warning of where we could be heading, we're told: "A core characteristic of a hive is identity fusion, which completely erases personal hopes and dreams in favor of a shared goal. Who gets to decide these ideals, and what happens when someone wants to defect?"

This is a potential arc that Pluribus can explore in the rest of season 1 or its already confirmed season 2.

You only have to look at the concept of a hive mind in the insect kingdom and how those crawly critters respond to pheromones to see the dystopian nightmare of happiness displayed in Pluribus might not be a million miles away from reality.