[tame_deuces]

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If you assume a person has a sphere of influence, a group mind is a definitive possibility as the group behavior can spread and strengthen specific ideas.

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Minds are influenced by all sorts of inputs including inputs gernerated by other minds. That's not a group mind is just a group of minds.

chez

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And a mind is a result of the building blocks that make up our bodies and and what affects them, but we still call it a mind and not a group of building blocks and what affects them.

It is not always useful - nor necessary - to separate terms just because we know what their individual composition is. Groupthinking is a very distinct feature of certain human behaviors for example, and thus looking at the group as a whole can be useful.

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in this case it is useful because we are talking at the level of decision making. Its only individual minds that make decisions in this sense. There are no intentional acts by groups, just individuals.

Yes many individuals are heavily/easily influenced by others but that's not a group mind.

chez

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Well there certainly isn't a 'hive mind' if that is what you mean by groupmind. I guess we probably agree but just stumble around some semantics.