...But it's too long for me to record on twitter and I want to preserve this thought.
A stream I was on tonight touched upon the Star Trek 'verse and the subject of the Borg came up.
What the Borg offer me is something that if it were actually delivered, I would consider it a godsend.
The Borg, in theory, share their thoughts with the entirety of the collective.
As someone who is autistic, who struggles to think of words, that sounds like a dream to me, because explaining my thoughts to others is something I struggle with and having it instantly just happen would be amazing.
A common downside to that is "there are some thoughts that I wouldn't want to share", but for me, personally, I actually wouldn't mind sharing the bad with the good, because the bad can help contextualize the good, and vice-versa. A lot of the best ideas/thoughts/feelings/etc. have spurned from some of the worst screwed up stuff in my head, where they wouldn't have existed at all if I hadn't had the negative parts.
If I shared all of my thoughts and ideas to everyone, they would get out there and be in the world, rather than trapped in my head to die with me.
And because it would communicate them to others, so long as the Collective survived, so, too, would my ideas, meaning that even after I died, part of me would live in the Collective for all of eternity.
More than that, the Borg Collective would also help to give me a purpose in life. A directive. Some people, like me, actually lack that direction and could use it. Living for others, serving others, serving the Collective and being told how you can do so effectively? Not a bad deal.
Plus, being a cyborg would presumably extend my natural lifespan.
So if the Borg actually were the Collective they boast about, it'd be neat! And several episodes of Star Trek shows beyond TNG actually show that. (Mainly Voyager I believe.) Where splinter cells of the Borg Collective without a connection to the Borg Queen actually live up to that ideal and show off all the good the system can give.
But unfortunately--the Borg aren't the collective they boast about, they are, explicitly, conquerors. They aren't interested in sharing their knowledge among the collective, they're interested in forcefully making every living lifeform one of them, and of suppressing their ideas and creativity to fit the mold of 'Borg'.
Instead of being what amounts to the ultimate form of Socialism where every individual does the most to help everyone else (what they could be), they explicitly are modeled more on an Imperialistic mindset, think USA USA USA brainwashing of "forcing everyone to be more like us".
The Borg Queen is, explicitly, out to conquer and suppress the ideas of others and to use their knowledge only when it furthers their goals of conquering others. They are out to deliberately remove everything that is not-them from the universe.
If the Borg were to actually offer, rather than demand, acceptance into their collective, there would be droves of people who would willingly become a part of their collective. Both in our universe and in the Star Trek 'verse. There's plenty of planet-of-hats that have ideals which resonate with the theory of the Borg and thus if the Borg offered rather than 'making-it-mandatory' assimilation to them, they would join willingly.
But the First Contact film tells us explicitly; the Borg Queen is not looking for an equal, for a counterpart, for people to willingly join and become an equal; the Borg Queen is explicitly looking to quash resistance and force everyone to submit by force. They don't want them to join willingly, they want to actively suppress the ideas of others.
In that regard I've always considered the Borg to be a bit stupid, and a shame for showing off a system that would be a dream if it was what they actually offered, but instead of offering it for real, they throw it away in favor of imposing their way on the world forcingly. Just some generic conquerors, whose ideals are empty and unfulfilled.
The idea of the Borg would be a better Federation than the actual Federation, where those joining would willingly work together for the betterment of all. The idea of the Borg would live in a similarly-Socialistic-ideal to that of the Federation, just with higher efficiency thanks to the direct mind link.
But while the idea of the Borg is better, the fact that they don't actually deliver means that it's a waste. The Borg are idiots for trying to forcefully assimilate everyone and make everyone their enemy; the Borg are idiots for not delivering on what they offer; the Borg had a good theory to them, but by the Borg Queen's selfishness, never deliver on it.
And the extended Star Trek 'verse shows this off. I remember quite vividly, for instance, one episode of Voyager where there was a colony on a world that was former Borg, cut off from the collective, and at the end of the episode, they reconnect to each other, recreate their own micro-Borg-collective, still cut off from the Borg Queen, still cut off from the Borg as a whole, but connecting to each other, and in that episode I vividly recall thinking, "This is what the Borg should be!!!".
In that splinter cell, that micro-Borg-collective, I seem to recall that at the end of the episode, they were all linked to each other, sharing their thoughts/knowledge/ideas/feelings/etc. with each other, and working together with unity and purpose, but critically still having some amount of individuality to them because it wasn't being forcefully suppressed by the Borg Queen.
Especially since in that episode, they did that willingly. They all had the choice; they all chose to be Borg again rather than having it forced upon them. But they were the Borg as the Borg should be, rather than the Borg that actually exists.
A Borg Collective which offered people the chance to join their collective willingly, where everyone joining did so by choice, where their thoughts, feelings, etc. were shared with everyone, and they worked as a collective in harmony with purpose? Literally could be a Federation 2.0 in being a good system that works well.
But a Borg Collective which is out to conquer everyone, which is out to make everyone be them, which is trying to force everyone to join or die, which is out to make everything theirs with no choice, suppressing those within, forcefully oppressing the masses and creating absolute unity under a stagnant system that steals in order to survive and expand and is in itself sterile without the outside opinions that it works so hard to actively destroy?
It's such a waste.
But I digress.
I am not a real Trekkie so I'm sure a true Trekkie or even someone who like me is just a casual Star Trek nerd/fan who is more educated could go, "Well, actually..." to me and point out the flaws and why the Borg system isn't as good as the Federation system or something or so forth, I'm not a true expert on the Star Trek 'verse, I'm just a casual fan who happens to be passionate and opinionated.
I still felt like sharing my thoughts in a more permanent form tho.
A stream I was on tonight touched upon the Star Trek 'verse and the subject of the Borg came up.
What the Borg offer me is something that if it were actually delivered, I would consider it a godsend.
The Borg, in theory, share their thoughts with the entirety of the collective.
As someone who is autistic, who struggles to think of words, that sounds like a dream to me, because explaining my thoughts to others is something I struggle with and having it instantly just happen would be amazing.
A common downside to that is "there are some thoughts that I wouldn't want to share", but for me, personally, I actually wouldn't mind sharing the bad with the good, because the bad can help contextualize the good, and vice-versa. A lot of the best ideas/thoughts/feelings/etc. have spurned from some of the worst screwed up stuff in my head, where they wouldn't have existed at all if I hadn't had the negative parts.
If I shared all of my thoughts and ideas to everyone, they would get out there and be in the world, rather than trapped in my head to die with me.
And because it would communicate them to others, so long as the Collective survived, so, too, would my ideas, meaning that even after I died, part of me would live in the Collective for all of eternity.
More than that, the Borg Collective would also help to give me a purpose in life. A directive. Some people, like me, actually lack that direction and could use it. Living for others, serving others, serving the Collective and being told how you can do so effectively? Not a bad deal.
Plus, being a cyborg would presumably extend my natural lifespan.
So if the Borg actually were the Collective they boast about, it'd be neat! And several episodes of Star Trek shows beyond TNG actually show that. (Mainly Voyager I believe.) Where splinter cells of the Borg Collective without a connection to the Borg Queen actually live up to that ideal and show off all the good the system can give.
But unfortunately--the Borg aren't the collective they boast about, they are, explicitly, conquerors. They aren't interested in sharing their knowledge among the collective, they're interested in forcefully making every living lifeform one of them, and of suppressing their ideas and creativity to fit the mold of 'Borg'.
Instead of being what amounts to the ultimate form of Socialism where every individual does the most to help everyone else (what they could be), they explicitly are modeled more on an Imperialistic mindset, think USA USA USA brainwashing of "forcing everyone to be more like us".
The Borg Queen is, explicitly, out to conquer and suppress the ideas of others and to use their knowledge only when it furthers their goals of conquering others. They are out to deliberately remove everything that is not-them from the universe.
If the Borg were to actually offer, rather than demand, acceptance into their collective, there would be droves of people who would willingly become a part of their collective. Both in our universe and in the Star Trek 'verse. There's plenty of planet-of-hats that have ideals which resonate with the theory of the Borg and thus if the Borg offered rather than 'making-it-mandatory' assimilation to them, they would join willingly.
But the First Contact film tells us explicitly; the Borg Queen is not looking for an equal, for a counterpart, for people to willingly join and become an equal; the Borg Queen is explicitly looking to quash resistance and force everyone to submit by force. They don't want them to join willingly, they want to actively suppress the ideas of others.
In that regard I've always considered the Borg to be a bit stupid, and a shame for showing off a system that would be a dream if it was what they actually offered, but instead of offering it for real, they throw it away in favor of imposing their way on the world forcingly. Just some generic conquerors, whose ideals are empty and unfulfilled.
The idea of the Borg would be a better Federation than the actual Federation, where those joining would willingly work together for the betterment of all. The idea of the Borg would live in a similarly-Socialistic-ideal to that of the Federation, just with higher efficiency thanks to the direct mind link.
But while the idea of the Borg is better, the fact that they don't actually deliver means that it's a waste. The Borg are idiots for trying to forcefully assimilate everyone and make everyone their enemy; the Borg are idiots for not delivering on what they offer; the Borg had a good theory to them, but by the Borg Queen's selfishness, never deliver on it.
And the extended Star Trek 'verse shows this off. I remember quite vividly, for instance, one episode of Voyager where there was a colony on a world that was former Borg, cut off from the collective, and at the end of the episode, they reconnect to each other, recreate their own micro-Borg-collective, still cut off from the Borg Queen, still cut off from the Borg as a whole, but connecting to each other, and in that episode I vividly recall thinking, "This is what the Borg should be!!!".
In that splinter cell, that micro-Borg-collective, I seem to recall that at the end of the episode, they were all linked to each other, sharing their thoughts/knowledge/ideas/feelings/etc. with each other, and working together with unity and purpose, but critically still having some amount of individuality to them because it wasn't being forcefully suppressed by the Borg Queen.
Especially since in that episode, they did that willingly. They all had the choice; they all chose to be Borg again rather than having it forced upon them. But they were the Borg as the Borg should be, rather than the Borg that actually exists.
A Borg Collective which offered people the chance to join their collective willingly, where everyone joining did so by choice, where their thoughts, feelings, etc. were shared with everyone, and they worked as a collective in harmony with purpose? Literally could be a Federation 2.0 in being a good system that works well.
But a Borg Collective which is out to conquer everyone, which is out to make everyone be them, which is trying to force everyone to join or die, which is out to make everything theirs with no choice, suppressing those within, forcefully oppressing the masses and creating absolute unity under a stagnant system that steals in order to survive and expand and is in itself sterile without the outside opinions that it works so hard to actively destroy?
It's such a waste.
But I digress.
I am not a real Trekkie so I'm sure a true Trekkie or even someone who like me is just a casual Star Trek nerd/fan who is more educated could go, "Well, actually..." to me and point out the flaws and why the Borg system isn't as good as the Federation system or something or so forth, I'm not a true expert on the Star Trek 'verse, I'm just a casual fan who happens to be passionate and opinionated.
I still felt like sharing my thoughts in a more permanent form tho.
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