War of Joint Minds

It is all but inevitable that any sufficiently advanced society will seek to transcend the isolation of fishbowled minds in island bodies through technology. It is equally inevitable that any attempt rooted in programmed computation will fail. But in the moment between so-called singularity and the embrace of animal separateness, centuries of history can play out in the joint mind.
  Within a season after the bulk of Indigo civilization underwent (sometimes voluntary, sometimes forced) neural interfacing, one dedicated group managed to prototype the ancestor to Moss of Life. The next events are so well documented, it’s hard to say what actually happened (and didn’t): The edible slime mold escaped lab containment (different articles report this release being accidental, deliberate, and some of both) and proliferated into every corner of this pocket of Indigo civilization. This happened at a truly opportune moment; neural interfacing was becoming increasingly powerful, rolling Indigo into the joint mind at an accelerating pace. Not everyone was in favor of joining, but the technology was rapidly approaching a critical mass such that the ruling body could use it to force assimilation onto nearly every individual if they wanted. Just before the joint mind reached that plurality, Moss of Life changed the game by removing food scarcity as a threat, and allowing communities to live independent of the empire’s supply chains. Many brave Indigo left and set up their own social ecosystems, unreachable directly by the joint mind. If Indigo’s empire wanted to encompass everyone, they were going to have to fight physically.
  Even at this stage, the joint mind had incredible power. However, it was still too divided to be truly formidable. Various value-factions existed within the socio-mental space, duking it out in arenas where debate was itself war. Strong-willed rhetoricians existed in every faction, so no dominant worldview had yet emerged as The Indigo Worldview. Given time, one would have emerged victorious out of a combination of ruthlessness, alignment with reality, and sheer memetic drift. But with the advent of Lifemoss, many newercomers to the joint mind saw another viable life path. Disappointed by the undeniable reality that neural interfaces aren’t the same thing as *true* connection, millions upon millions were dissatisfied with this identity-stripped version of life. They wanted to leave. This group was so big and so quick-growing, they were able to burst from the joint mind all at once, viruses lysing a cell. They allied with Neverjoined, solid in the determination not to be subsumed again. Their organization and preparation were so thorough, they didn’t even need to fight the scarred remains of the joint mind. Willing trust made the compelling argument, the killing blow.
  Indigo society never again tried to become a hive of any kind. There are still groups who interface locally, but it isn’t the species default. They are family, and most are driven to compassionate service with each other. But it is all voluntary, individual. Each indigo is her own person. They are separate, twining tails, and they are free.