Were Bezos and Musk killed by The Borg?

Ha!

There's no guarantee that 600 million are all that died as a result of WWIII. They're described as those that died IN the war, but to be honest, millions, even billions, could have died as a result of it. The horrid, squalid, medieval conditions of the late 21st century (in universe), even with different varieties of it, for instance the Bell Riots versus the trial Q showed us, would have seen disease run rampant over much of the world, all of it brought on by the war.

Indeed, that trial may not have even been in North America. It could have been anywhere, and the conditions shown just an example of the worst humanity faced at the time. When life means so little, more people die, often for nothing.

 

Slight correction: brought on by Capitalism and monetary based economy in the first place (it remains the culprit behind generating such conditions).

Anyway, we did get a population number of Earth at some point in the timeline (but after First Contact).
Remember when the Enterprise-E was still in the temporal vortex and saw assimilated Earth? Data said there were 9 billion Borg on it.
But that was an altered timeline at some point after First Contact (but the dialogue might suggest 24th century version as Picard said they'd have to go back and repair whatever damage they'd done - which would be a bit of a stretch because I don't think Borg technology would enhance human lifespan that much - although the Borg could have assimilated other species and brought them to Earth - meaning the majority of the Alpha Quadrant could have been assimilated by then).

My point was that WWIII didn't seem to destroy Humanity's knowledge or technology. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to rebuild and advance as they did (the Vulcans didn't help Humanity at all in that regard - and probably for the better - we needed to get our act together).
As such, if biological immortality existed in the form of medical treatment in Trek universe (and there's no reason why it shouldn't - except for writers unwillingness to integrate this), then people from the late 20th century (at least those who survived and gained access to the technology) would have lived to see First Contact and fly alongside Cochrane as full rejuvenated younger selves - that is both Musk and Bezos existed in the first place... and the likelihood is they didn't).
In fact I suspect that alongside people who perished in WWIII could have been the rich, military and leaders (that would provide Earth with an immediate option to not be constrained by previous outdated thinking and repeat the same mistakes and instead implement something akin to Resource Based Economy instead... or at least a transitional aspect to it - the full RBE wouldn't form into place until UFP was formed and money ceased to exist - as Tom Paris mentioned).

 

I have several posts in the thread https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/fanon-the-eugenics-program-that-produced-khan.308203/

In post number 7 I explain reasons why it is logical to believe that Star Trek happens in AN alternate universe which diverged from ours some time before the 1960s. Thus is is quite possible that Bezos and Musk were never born in the alternate universe of Star Trek .

In post number 17 I state that there are reasons to believe that dates in Star Trek do not always use the Anno Domini calendar era. Thus First Contact could happen a considereable time before or after AD 2063, making it uncertain whether Bezos and Musk would be alive and reasonably young and healthy adults suitable for spaeship co pilots in the time of First Contact, even if they were even born in that alternate universe.

 

Agreed. I see Howard Hughes making Falcon in the 1970s. Over at Nasapaceflight, there is talk about Saturn IBs as landers perhaps

That Titan II type first stage screams old space to me.