Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-6078851-20130318203252/@comment-6078851-20130330004714

imagine that every mind on earth (present day) was part of a collective conciousnes. the resulting gestalt would be an intellect greater than even the emperor, just intellect though, not counting psychic ability. 7 billion minds working together and sharing the sum knowledge of the entire race. now the emperor is technically the gestalt of the shaman that sacrificed themselves but i don't see that gestalt as even coming close to a gestalt of 7 billion.

this is the terms in which i view the hive mind - trillions upon trillions upon uncountable trillions (and despite these numbers there's still more) of minds all supplying a little part to create a massive whole. granted a large percentage are simply insinctual minds but the sum of them is far greater than their parts, the sheer volume being key.

as for individual intellects i was primarily thinking about the swarmlord, a tyrant who's function is to, and i quote, "out-think enemies and form new strategies". i was also referring to regular tyrants who, again i quote, "are incredibly intelligent and completely self aware" (pretty much the definition of individual intellect). i fully believe there's way more than 7 billion tyrants' individual intellects added to the "single, unfathomable intelligence" (that's my last quote, i promise).

now i agree that the hive mind doesn't think in a manner that can be reflected in any species of the galaxy, but this is because the hive mind is the single most alien entity in 40k and just because it doesn't think like us doesn't mean it doesn't think.

as always this is only my (heartfelt) opinion, (except the quotes).

p.s. i'll actually concede the point about tzeentch, that dude is pretty much the definition of intelligence :)