Couple of thoughts in response to this thread:
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I think the Borg, as a concept, somewhat falls apart when we considering that natural, biological systems are actually often perfect models for the efficiency that the Borg claim to strive for. And, to clarify, I’m not saying the concept falls apart from a doylist perspective - I think that the fact that Borg technology evolves independent of any particular intent and is highly automated to take the most efficient route to its endpoint kind of reveals the folly of the Borg, which would be super interesting to explore. They’re just recreating systems which already exist in nature, from a certain point of view.
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Considering the miracle of dermal regenerators and similar technology, I actually think Assimilation is highly reversible. Just still really traumatic.
PS - I’m not really sure on what the policy is on linking topics from the subreddit but I’m trying not to post on Reddit so.i guess this is my way of transitioning. Remove if not ok, I guess?
You might still disagree with this, but I guess the main thing I mean by efficiency in the case of biology is that natural systems seem to take the shortest route in response to stimuli. So perhaps there is a difference between optimization and efficiency in the case of the Borg, and I would say that an unintended consequence of their advanced tech is that it would start to behave like an organic system as they adapt to new circumstances.
I think there is a problem the Borg maybe haven’t acknowledged which is that they want an organized and optimized system, but progress or evolution means having a system which is good at responding to favorably to current conditions which may or may not exist in the future. Obviously the Borg are trying to also control their environment to be as predictable as possible, but they still encounter the unexpected (species 8472, for example) and have had some HUGE weak spots/ liabilities (Data can put a whole cube to sleep, their ships are subject to easily being infiltrated, etc). The Borg may believe in perfection, but I think they are on a fools errand.
Not necessarily. Evolved systems take the first route available. If a more efficient route is encountered by chance, and proves to be enough of an advantage to win out over the original, then that is where it will continue. But it cannot easily account for situations where that fundamental strategy is no longer viable (particularly if the part is highly conserved), or plan ahead, taking a less favourable strategy for a better one later on.
For example, in mammals, the recurrent pharyngeal nerve is conserved from our fishy origins, looping around the aorta and back up. This was fine in the fish days, where that route was easier, due to the different internal structures, but it is no longer efficient, egregiously so for giraffes and humans, where it extends down the neck, only to go back up again
Since it is a highly conserved vital structure, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible for us to evolve a more efficient path for it to take, even though keeping it all inside of the head would be far more efficient. We might be able to evolve alternative uses for it, but it is a long and convoluted chain that we would need to develop in order to shorten it at all.
I’m not sure that some of those weaknesses of the Borg are really weaknesses.
Data had access to a privileged drone. Locutus was acting as a mouthpiece for the Borg, and was a special case, having a name, and having their knowledge be in active use by the Collective.
A conventional drone would likely be overridden by the rest of the Collective, and the Borg would be hard-pressed to allow most drones to go along without a fight.
That’s not really a weakness for the Borg. If you’re not trying to attack them, they don’t particularly care. They have nothing to hide, and the opportunity would allow them to study you just as much as you are studying them.
It’s much the same reason why they don’t use cloaking devices, or otherwise hide their presence. The intimidation factor is far more useful.
They would be, if they were controlling all aspects of the environment, as the nature of the Borg makes internal development difficult. Individuality is not readily acknowledged, and the Borg do not actively try and improve themselves. They are almost entirely reliant on external stimuli to that end.
If the Borg were ever to win, then the galaxy/galactic cluster would stagnate, putting a stop to their ability to develop further, making it an undesirable goal. There is no winning for the Borg, even if they assimilated the entire supercluster, not without major changes to how they work.
@[email protected] touched on this, but the whole point of the Borg’s search for perfection is that it’s an impossible task which will occupy them forever: a perpetual salve against boredom, for an entity which can (or at least thinks they can) trivially accomplish virtually any concrete task they attempt. I believe Seven even refers to this explicitly, although I am unable to find a quote.
From this perspective, stumbling into the Omega molecule was actually an unfortunate accident. Instead of the slow, inexorable march of incremental progress towards their nebulous goal, the Borg found something so “perfect” that they felt they actually could achieve “perfection” by harnessing it, and will pay virtually any price to get there. The is dangerous both because it risks leaving them without a purpose if they “succeed”, but also at great risk from the more conventional disasters that Omega particles are so prone to.