The pluribus hivemind is not everyone in the world. It is one single alien eldritch consciousness, who has 7 billion pairs of eyes. It holds opinions and has goals completely separate from humanity, it has a distinct personality and didnt take it from humans. It has the knowledge of almost every single human alive and some dead. Which makes it more akin to a god than a human (or a hivemind of humans). Humans are just meat puppets to it, and it can feel empathy and love them in a way. But it is always literally objectifying humans, using them as mere tools.
I believe it won't try to take stem cells directly from Carol's body not because it cares about bodily autonomy (it's existence is antithetical to bodily autonomy actually), but because it would be hard and maybe Carol would yell and fight, which would make it lose controlled bodies, which it needs. To the alien it's a matter of resource management and efficiency towards their mysterious goal (perhaps an antenna the size of Africa, as others here have pointed out), not a respect for consent. It did not ask for consent to assimilate everyone, or to kiss/try to assimilate Carol (with a man, while knowing she's a lesbian). They will try anything to assimilate the last 12 free humans because then there are no loose ends. No one to keep them from whatever their goal is.
If it actually cared about humans, it would pick the fucking apples, like Carol points out. It has a completely alien moral code that we don't yet understand. Any an all remains, be it plant animal or human, is fair game, but it won't actively harvest anything. The fact that the line is between picking from the plant and picking from the floor shows just how far from humanity they are. Which means that there's a main personality overriding the 7 billion humans who would think thats obviously a dumb and arbitrary line to draw.
janainaart
stormborns
germansingergirl
jbbartram-illu
kianamaiart
izzy806
snowghoul
