PLURIBUS: The Frequency Theory — The Intro Told Us Everything

That sound we've been hearing in every title sequence, that's not music. That's

the hive mind. And one man in Paraguay has been listening to it on his radio for days. Today, I'm going to show you

for days. Today, I'm going to show you why I believe the hive mind in Pluribabus doesn't use telepathy. They

use radio waves, a specific frequency.

And when Manuso's Ovido finally reaches Carol, they might have everything they need to do something no one thought possible. Not destroy the hive, not kill

possible. Not destroy the hive, not kill 7 billion people, just turn off the signal.

Let's start at the beginning. Episode 1

opens with astronomers at the very large array detecting something impossible. A

radio signal from 600 light-years away from Kepler 22b. And this signal has very specific properties. It repeats

every 78 seconds. It uses pulsewidth modulation, which one scientist describes as old school like Morse code.

But here's the detail that matters. The

signal isn't binary. It's not ones and zeros. It's split across four different

zeros. It's split across four different frequencies. Quadinary base 4. And those

frequencies. Quadinary base 4. And those

four frequencies correspond to the four bases of RNA. Guanine, uricil, adanine, cytosine. The aliens didn't send us a

cytosine. The aliens didn't send us a message. They sent us a recipe.

message. They sent us a recipe.

Instructions encoded in radio waves that our scientists decoded, recreated in a lab, and accidentally unleashed on the world. Now, here's what I think everyone

world. Now, here's what I think everyone missed. That signal wasn't just a

missed. That signal wasn't just a recipe. It was a communication protocol.

recipe. It was a communication protocol.

Think about it. The extraterrestrial

intelligence that sent this knew exactly what they were doing. They chose

highfrequency radio because HF waves do something special. They bounce off the

something special. They bounce off the ionosphere. They can travel around the

ionosphere. They can travel around the entire curvature of the Earth without satellites, without cell towers, without any infrastructure at all. If you wanted

to build a planetary scale network using nothing but biology, you'd choose HF radio. And I think that's exactly what

radio. And I think that's exactly what the virus does. It doesn't just create psychic glue. It turns human neurons

psychic glue. It turns human neurons into biological receivers, maybe transmitters, too. All tuned to the same

transmitters, too. All tuned to the same frequency that started the whole thing.

In episode 6, we finally see what Manusos has been hunting. Frequency

8613.0 kHz. And on that frequency, a rhythmic

kHz. And on that frequency, a rhythmic pulse, a mechanical clicking pattern that repeats over and over. And when I heard that sound, I noticed something

incredible. It matches the title

incredible. It matches the title sequence. That pulse we've been hearing

sequence. That pulse we've been hearing at the start of every episode, that's not just music. That's the hive. Dave

Porter, the composer, didn't randomly create that rhythm. It's the same pattern Manus hears on 8613.0.

The show has been playing us the sound of 7 billion synchronized minds since the very first frame. We've been hearing the hive's heartbeat all along. We just

didn't know it. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. Humans can't

receive radio waves. Our brains don't work like that. But here's where it gets interesting. Your brain contains trace

interesting. Your brain contains trace amounts of something called magnetite, iron oxide crystals concentrated in your hippocampus. In birds, these same

hippocampus. In birds, these same crystals form chains that act like tiny compass needles. That's how pigeons

compass needles. That's how pigeons navigate. How migratory birds find their

navigate. How migratory birds find their way across continents. They're literally

sensing electromagnetic fields with their biology. There's also something

their biology. There's also something called the Frey effect. Since 1961,

scientists have documented that pulsed radio waves can create sounds inside your head. Clicking, buzzing, not

your head. Clicking, buzzing, not through your ears, but directly in your neural tissue. External radio signals

neural tissue. External radio signals can be perceived internally. This is

established science. So, what if the Plurbus virus doesn't give humans some magical sixth sense? What if it just reorganizes those magnetite deposits,

sensitizes neurons to a specific frequency? Suddenly, every infected

frequency? Suddenly, every infected person becomes a biological antenna, all tuned to 8613.0 kHz, all resonating together. 7 billion

minds synchronized by a single signal bouncing around the planet. Not

telepathy, not magic, physics.

But wait, if they're communicating by radio, how does it work so fast? When

Carol has an emotional outburst, the joint around her convulse instantly.

That seems faster than radio waves can travel. Here's the key. I don't think

travel. Here's the key. I don't think the frequency carries content. I think

it carries synchronization.

Imagine 7 billion musicians trying to play the same song. They don't need to hear each other's notes through the radio. They just need to hear the same

radio. They just need to hear the same metronome, the same beat, the same pulse, keeping them all in time. That's

what 8613.0 is, the metronome. The Hive isn't transmitting thoughts across the planet.

They're maintaining sync, a standing wave of consciousness that keeps every infected mind phase locked with every other. The actual thoughts and memories

other. The actual thoughts and memories travel through the biological network the virus created. But without that carrier frequency holding everything together, the orchestra falls apart.

Everyone starts playing at different tempos. The unity dissolves and the show

tempos. The unity dissolves and the show keeps giving us evidence of this. Watch

what happens when Carol asks Zosa something she doesn't immediately know.

There's a pause. She tilts her head like she's listening to something we can't hear. She's not thinking. She's

hear. She's not thinking. She's

querying, waiting for the network to respond. That's not telepathy. That's

respond. That's not telepathy. That's

latency. That's a network.

This is also why Carol causes seizures when she gets angry. She's not

transmitting rage across the world.

She's creating local interference. Her

incompatible neural signature disrupts the sync field around her. Dejoined near

her experience something like static feedback. Their connection to the

feedback. Their connection to the collective glitches. This is a property

collective glitches. This is a property of waves, not souls. And waves can be jammed.

So now we have two people on a collision course. Carol Sturka, the most miserable

course. Carol Sturka, the most miserable woman on Earth. She's been dissecting the hives biology, testing their limits, probing their weaknesses. She

understands what the virus does to the body. Manus Aedo, the radio obsessive

body. Manus Aedo, the radio obsessive who refused to engage with the hive from day one. Whether that was instinct or

day one. Whether that was instinct or just paranoia, it put him in exactly the right place to find what no one else was looking for. He understands what the

looking for. He understands what the signal does to the mind. When these two finally meet, it's going to be like watching Walter White's chemistry knowledge combined with Jesse Pinkman's street level instincts. Different

worlds, different skills, same enemy.

Carol has the biology, Manus has the physics. Apart, they each have half the

physics. Apart, they each have half the answer. Together, they might have the

answer. Together, they might have the whole thing. Episode 7 is called The

whole thing. Episode 7 is called The Gap. Manus begins a dangerous trek to

Gap. Manus begins a dangerous trek to meet Carol. Meanwhile, Carol returns

meet Carol. Meanwhile, Carol returns home from Las Vegas and gets creative with her rebellion. The Gap. And I don't just mean the distance between them.

Between South America and North America, there's a 60-mi stretch of jungle called the Darian Gap. No roads, no infrastructure. It's the only break in

infrastructure. It's the only break in the entire Pan-American highway. For

decades, it was one of the deadliest places on Earth. But not because of jaguars or floods. Because of us, cartels, gorillas, traffickers preying

on migrants. They're all joined now. So,

on migrants. They're all joined now. So,

Manusos might be about to walk through one of the most notorious stretches on Earth and discover that without humans fighting each other, it's just a jungle.

Hard, but survivable. The real obstacle isn't the terrain. It's that every person he meets will know exactly who he is and offer help he can't accept. Manus

has been starving himself rather than take food from them. Now he has to cross a continent without accepting a single ride, a single meal, a single kindness.

Not because the hive wants to stop him, because they want to save him. And he

can't let them. He's not going to make it in one episode. Maybe not even two.

This is a 9 episode season with three episodes left and I think Gilligan is saving their meeting for the finale.

Three more weeks of tension. Manuso's

getting closer while Carol pushes harder against the Hive's limits. The question

isn't whether they'll meet. It's what

they'll do when they finally share notes. I think we'll see something

notes. I think we'll see something Gilligan does better than almost anyone.

A bottle scene. Two people in a room comparing evidence, arguing, testing each other's theories, slowly realizing they've cracked it. And then a test, a

localized jamming experiment. Maybe just

a few blocks, maybe just for a few minutes. But if it works, if even one

minutes. But if it works, if even one joined person blinks, looks confused, seems momentarily disconnected from the

collective, that changes everything.

But this is a Vince Gilligan story, which means there's no clean victory. If

jamming works, what happens to 7 billion people who suddenly lose their connection? They've been experiencing

connection? They've been experiencing constant euphoria, shared consciousness, the complete absence of loneliness, and then in an instant, silence. That's not

just freedom. That might be the worst mass withdrawal event in human history.

The hive hasn't been hurting anyone.

They've been happy, genuinely, chemically, neurologically happy. And

Carol is about to take that away. Not

because they asked her to, not because they consent, because she decided individuality matters more than bliss.

Is she saving humanity? Or is she traumatizing 7 billion people because she couldn't stand being the only one who wasn't invited to the party? This is

why Gilligan is telling the story. Not

because the answer is easy, because it's impossible. Because there is no version

impossible. Because there is no version of this where Carol gets to be purely heroic. She's going to break the world's

heroic. She's going to break the world's heart to give it back its mind. Let me

leave you with this. The title sequence of Pluribus isn't just opening credits.

It's a clue. That rhythmic pulse we've been hearing for 6 weeks, that's 8613.0 kHz. That's the sound of 7 billion

kHz. That's the sound of 7 billion people breathing together, thinking together, being together. And one man figured it out. Not because he's special, not because he has powers,

because he had a ham radio and enough stubbornness to keep listening when everyone else stopped. Manus isn't

crazy. He isn't paranoid. He's been

listening to humanity's stolen heartbeat. And he's about to show Carol

heartbeat. And he's about to show Carol how to give it back. The hive mind isn't magic. It's physics. Waves, not souls. A

magic. It's physics. Waves, not souls. A

signal that can be tracked, measured, and disrupted. Vince Gilligan didn't

and disrupted. Vince Gilligan didn't create an unstoppable enemy. He created

a puzzle with an elegant solution. You

don't have to kill 7 billion people. You

just have to change the station. What do

you think? Is the frequency theory the key to Pluribus? Am I on to something?

Or am I as paranoid as Manus? Let me

know in the comments. Episode 7 drops Friday. The gap is closing. I'll see you

Friday. The gap is closing. I'll see you then.