Would 'topological anomaly 4747' from 'I Borg' have brought down the Borg?

[at Quark's]

From I. Borg

(on the wall monitor, topological anomaly 4747)
LAFORGE: That's it, Captain.
PICARD: It looks harmless enough.
LAFORGE: We had to disguise it as something innocuous. The Borg have ways of screening out programme anomalies.
PICARD: How can a geometric form disable a computer system?
DATA: The shape is a paradox, sir. It cannot exist in real space or time.
LAFORGE: When Hugh's imaging apparatus imprints this on his biochips, he'll try to analyse it.
DATA: He will be unsuccessful, and will store the shape in his memory banks. It will be shunted to a subroutine for further analysis.
LAFORGE: Then when the Borg download his memory, it'll be incorporated it into their network, then they'll try to analyse it.
DATA: It is designed so that each approach they take will spawn an anomalous solution. The anomalies are designed to interact with each other, linking together to form an endless and unsolvable puzzle.
PICARD: Quite original. How long before a total systems failure?
LAFORGE: Not until the shape has gone through several hundred computational cycles.
PICARD: When can you begin the process?
LAFORGE: About another twenty hours. Doctor Crusher wants to make sure the new implants have taken hold.
PICARD: Very well. Begin as soon as you're ready.

On the one hand we have Geordi and Data, two supposedly very bright minds, and Picard, with first hand experience what it is like to be Borg. Also, at that point probably a fair amount of research data on the Borg, so you would expect they know at least somewhat what they are talking about, when they propose to make the Borg fall with, essentially, a picture. Later on, admiral Nechayev apparently takes this "missed opportunity" very seriously, and there is the 'sleep' command that saved earth, so apparently there are such holes in Borg security.

On the other hand, we have the Borg, an ancient collective, consisting of trillions of drones thinking together, and with the knowledge of thousands of civilizations, some of which must have been significantly more advanced than the Federation. It's a bit hard to believe that such a powerful collective could be brought to its knees that easily. How did they manage to beat all those other civilizations in that case? Were none as imaginative as Geordi and Data?

So, what do you think? Would 'topological anomaly 4747' have worked?

 

[Qonundrum]

Only if they didn't assimilate the makers of Norman and his androids from "I, Mudd". Kirk did the same logic trap and Normie promptly steams up and short-circuits...

In seriousness, if the picture was used someone would eventually break up groupthink and telling them all they're thinking into it too much - they all do adapt and don't do so lockstep as if they're a cube of line dancers or anything; last I recall they were rejected from Riverdance and Rockettes and if the Borg don't have nice rockets then who does? Anyway, the inevitable sequel to the picture pages conundrum would be more riveting than "Descent"'s descent...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Isn’t that basically what Icheb’s parents did? We can imply by that bit only would have destroyed one cube.

 

[Mojochi]

These ain't the aliens from Independence Day. Some poison pill in the mainframe isn't likely enough to render the whole thing busted. Surely others would've thought of similar things

Now if it had been Kirk, he'd have just filibustered them to death with some talk about how paradoxical their way of life is

 

[at Quark's]

Only if they didn't assimilate the makers of Norman and his androids from "I, Mudd". Kirk did the same logic trap and Normie promptly steams up and short-circuits...

Would've been kind of fun if Data had brought that up in that scene, in his naive deadpan kind of way …. "In essence, Sir, we hope the Borg will start to scream 'Illogical! Illogical! and emit vapours from their ears before they turn themselves off' -- metaphorically speaking only, of course, sir. "

 

[Tenacity]

Given Data and LaForge's confidence, yes it would have worked. The Borg were neither smart nor creative.

Picard was a fool.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Given Data and LaForge's confidence, yes it would have worked. The Borg were neither smart nor creative.

Picard was a fool.

We have to treat the decision Picard made as if it would have worked, and in that light it was a very short sighted decision.

But we have evidence from Voyager it would not have worked. It's basically the same virus from Child's Play that was also employed in Endgame, that we know was only effective for a single cube unless it's delivered directly to a major communication nexus.

 

[JesterFace]

When going through the plan, Picard did say "looks harmless enough". Maybe it would have been something the Borg just ignore at first, like they anticipated, but eventually it would have caused damage.

 

[UnknownSample]

A few half thoughts... They treat the hive mind as a computer. But it consists of living humanoid brains and selves. Every time they assimilate any humanoid, all sorts of nonsense gets assimilated from her/him.
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It's an age old SF trope that computers are ultra-literal, and can't handle contradictions, metaphors, anything that isn't logical in a simple, straightforward way. My computer doesn't seem to be like that, though. I was just noticing that you can type a vague approximation into Google, and it gives you something close to what it thinks you asked for. When I was a kid, you had to be exact and specific with futuristic computers...

 

[Frank]

I am having difficulty identifying a particular TNG episode. I once viewed an episode where someone was at odds with Captain Picard. At the end, his nemesis attempted to reconcile with Picard. However, Picard remained silent and rotated his chair so his back was facing his nemesis. I had believed it was the episode The Drumbhead (4-21) featuring Admiral Satie, but I am mistaken. That is, unless the versions online have all edited that scene out?

 

[Makarov]

Satie never apologized to Picard or spoke to him again she peeled out of there right after the embarrassing outburst she had

 

[Frank]

Thank you, Captain Makarov. Are you familiar with the episode I am referring to? I apologize for my random posting. I am new at the academy and I could not figure out how to begin my own thread.

 

[DonIago]

I don't think Picard ever turned his back on anyone as you describe, but he was pretty pissed off with Ro at the end of "Preemptive Strike", though she wasn't there to see it. Riker delivers Picard a report and IIRC Picard just glowers the whole time.

 

[Marsden]

I think the Borg have paradox-absorbing crumple zones that would stop the problem, eventually.

 

[Shawnster]

It's a picture.

This is like saying the Borg could be stopped by an MC Escher print.

 

[Frank]

Thank you, Admiral. It appears I must watch the entire TNG series to confirm the reports from yourself and Captain Makarov. Considering the reports are coming from yourself and a Captain, they are both compelling pieces of evidence that no such frame exists. Still, I cannot help but contemplate why I believe it does. I recall discussing this incident with a co-worker some years ago when joining Starfleet was only an idea we tossed around. I may be confusing it with an episode of Deep Space Nine where Sisko performed the maneuver instead of Picard and it was towards the end of the episode. I cannot even recall the season because I viewed the episode as a rerun well after the series ended.

 

[DonIago]

Well, I believe it's in "The Maquis, Part I" where Sisko gets pissed off enough at Kira that rather than replying to something she's said he simply pushes his "door open" button. Again, though, no chairs were turned.

 

[JesterFace]

This is kind of off topic but...
About that episode where Picard turns his chair away from someone, could it be 'The Wounded' from season 4 where Picard says what he has to say to Gul Macet and sends him away?

 

[Groppler Zorn]

The anomaly may well have disabled a cube, maybe two before the Borg learned to adapt. With the resources of the entire collective working on it they would have figured it out eventually I think.

That being said, they couldn’t assimilate species 8472 without Janeway, yet they managed to assimilate Janeway’s pathogen - which was also designed to destroy the Borg and bring chaos to order.

Based on “scorpion” the only thing the Borg have definitely not been able to assimilate using the collective’s resources alone was from fluidic space - essentially a whole nother universe.

Things invented by humans seem to have posed little trouble to the collective (except transphasic torpedoes probably...)

 

[JesterFace]

The anomaly may well have disabled a cube, maybe two before the Borg learned to adapt. With the resources of the entire collective working on it they would have figured it out eventually I think

However, sometimes we think that some "virus" will only get as far as one or two cubes, but the Borg is one big creature. As dumb design as it is, the entire collective would be affected immediately, not slowly over time cube by cube.

But that might be only one way of looking at it...

 

[Frank]

I will verify the information you have provided during my scan of the series. This project, however, will require a great deal of time and popcorn. As to my recollection of the scene, my co-worker and I were reenacting it towards others, but we of course let them in on why. I do not believe this is a faulty memory and I passed my annual physical. I will attempt to post my findings as soon as possible. Frank out.

 

[Groppler Zorn]

However, sometimes we think that some "virus" will only get as far as one or two cubes, but the Borg is one big creature. As dumb design as it is, the entire collective would be affected immediately, not slowly over time cube by cube.

But that might be only one way of looking at it...

Based on Crusher’s analysis in BoBW that sounds plausible - she talks of their interdependency being their Achilles heel.

I’d have thought the collective would have had safeguards to protect against harmful influences like the specified anomaly, though - like a firewall around the rest of the collective if needs be - Macafee for the Borg?

Then again the pathogen Janeway introduced got pretty far even into the Borg Queen herself, so the Borg may indeed be that badly designed haha!

 

[Makarov]

It would have destroyed the borg, but then Q would judge humanity and destroy it