I’ve been thinking about the recent “revelations” that Facebook, Google, and every site monitors your information. It’s not a surprise, I mean, we gave it to them. I’m not complaining, I’m just musing.

Facebook monitors everything that gets sent on Facebook Messenger. I feel bad for whoever’s job it is to sift through the millions of dick pics.

Google: You know things about me that I don’t even know. You might be my soul mate.

And someday we’ll be Mindflayers.

To the confused, let me explain. Mindflayers  (or Illithids) are a species of monster in D&D. They have squid heads and tentacle mouths, incredible psychic powers, and are connected through the Hive Mind. They’re also one of the evilest and most powerful species in the game. They stun you with their psychic blasts and then suck out your brain with their tentacle mouths. Or they destroy your mind and make you a slave, massaging the Hive Mind for the rest of your life (See R.A. Salvatore’s “Exile” for Drizzt Do’Urden fondling a giant brain). They can even travel through space in special ships. Want to make your players shit themselves? Throw some Illithids at them. Even the Drow give them a wide berth.

We already have the Hive Mind. It’s called the Internet. It gives us access to all the knowledge, information, and communication we need (and some we don’t). We have psychic powers. It’s called Social Media. We can communicate from across the world while sitting on our toilets. And we’re only becoming more connected. The Hive Mind knows all of our shit. It has our dick pics. It knows our desires. It gives us what we need, and we give it our devotion.

Someday we’ll be truly connected. The question is how much of ourselves do we lose in the process?

Then again, the Illithids don’t seem to mind. Pass the brains.

Psst…Hey…Check out my historical fantasy, The Watchmage of Old New York. It’s only 99 cents for another week, and available in paperback too! It’s not like anything you’ve ever read…well…it had words and pages, so a little like things you’ve read. But it’s a time period that few books have tackled, and it’s a damn good story, with a 4.8 star rating on Amazon. Also, there are flying dogs, rabbis with terrible jokes, and dangerous bunnymen. None of those are that important to the plot, but they’re fun.