Borg economics

[Fleet Admiral Tuvix]

The Borg Queen is a compelling specimen: a humanoid brain attached to a mostly robot body. The advantages seem too numerous for them not to have at least contemplated turning every drone into such a creature.

For one thing, the caloric and nutritional needs of the biological component couldn't be more than a couple of Clif bars a day. And if every drone was a weird plug-n-play spine slug then standardized parts could be produced at unprecedentedly huge scale.

So the question becomes: given the success of what I presume is their prototype spine slug drone design, why wouldn't or couldn't the Borg turn every drone into such a creature?

 

[The Wormhole]

If everyone is a Queen, who would they rule over?

 

[Oddish]

Same reason the Federation sent unarmored humans to fight in the Dominion war, rather than trained soldiers in heavily armor plated combat exoskeletons.

 

[David cgc]

A purely robotic being would be most efficient of all; there's apparently a philosophical motivation that makes the Borg want to preserve as much of the organic contribution as possible.

 

[Fleet Admiral Tuvix]

If everyone is a Queen, who would they rule over?

I'm not proposing that everyone be a Queen, rather that the Borg might find her physiology advantageous for other drones.

 

[Fleet Admiral Tuvix]

A purely robotic being would be most efficient of all; there's apparently a philosophical motivation that makes the Borg want to preserve as much of the organic contribution as possible.

Now that I haven't considered. What might their motivations be? Perhaps something not entirely utilitarian? This is very interesting.

 

[Qonundrum]

If everyone is a Queen, who would they rule over?

More importantly, what would their theme tune be like? Everyone has one...

 

[Fleet Admiral Tuvix]

More importantly, what would their theme tune be like? Everyone has one...

Like Fraggles?

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

The Borg don't seem to be anywhere near a point where scarcity of resources is much of a concern. Just one unicomplex houses trillions (literally) of drones. Their territory spans thousands of light-years.

I really doubt they're pinching pennies when it comes to assimilation methods.

 

[Fleet Admiral Tuvix]

If they are as driven toward perfection as they say I would imagine them striving for a perfectly efficient drone. Given that drones are not allowed individual identities I don't imagine they ever have free time, and what are they doing if not expanding or improving the collective?

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Depends on how they define "perfection," though. For example, the omega particle is considered by the Borg as a sort of holy relic, because it's "flawless" and an incarnation of perfection (not much more backstory is given).

On the other hand, part of Borg utilitarianism may be hitting a local maxins of efficiency and calling it good enough. It's not like many species can offer significant resistance, so further improvements might not be worth the diminishing returns. Drones are somewhat slow and jerky, but they get the job done in the vast majority of cases. (In ye olde litverse First Splinter, the mirror universe Borg are significantly faster and more agile than their prime counterparts... just an interesting aside)

 

[Shat Happens]

The problem with "perfection" is that it can never be reached. Seven of Nine suffered much for not realizing that. There is no organism on Earth "more evolved" than other. The Borg are like ants, and ants exist in the same form for 100 million years.

An excerpt from Wikipedia:

Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in moist tropical ecosystems and may exceed the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships.

Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rites. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents. Their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) of South America, are regarded as invasive species in other parts of the world, establishing themselves in areas where they have been introduced accidentally.

Now read the above again substituting Borg for Ants, Galaxy for Earth, etc.

The invention of the Borg Queen and the Omega particle, and even Locutus, kind of damaged (a little) the Borg as a concept. The Borg should not have a purpose other than simply exist.

 

[1001001]

The Borg don't seem to be anywhere near a point where scarcity of resources is much of a concern. Just one unicomplex houses trillions (literally) of drones. Their territory spans thousands of light-years.

Well...

Endgame took care of a lot of that. Season 3 of Picard finished it off.

 

[evilchumlee]

It's just not "worth" it to the Borg. They're drones. They're completely disposable. They can just get more. There's no point in exerting the time and energy to give every drone that treatment when keeping the organic bits alive is a trivial matter.

The Borg seek perfection... but... what does that mean?

EDIT -

I do think there's some evidence though that the Borg are/were directionless for the most part, and the Borg as we know them are a more recent phenomena.

We are told in TNG through Hugh that the Borg had no concept of individuality. They didn't even understand it. Hugh being disconnected and then reconnected in after having developed some took a toll on the Collective, spreading his scandalous mindset, which led to Borg breaking off to seek individuality.

I'm really not sure there was a "Queen" prior to that, or if there was, she wasn't really a sentient individual as she has been portrayed.

Now that gets messy in that the Borg had definitely assimilated people prior to the Hugh, who had previously been individuals... although I would wager that in the assimilation process, people tend to get something of a lobotomy or some other way of blocking that part of the mind from the rest of the Collective.

Post-Hugh, now the Collective basically spawned the Queen, who is the embodiment of that individuality. The entire trajectory of the Borg changed, no longer being this force of nature that just moves around and collects things they find interesting, they're directed by an intelligent designer... one who doesn't actually care about the drones. She has her own agenda.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

I

I'm really not sure there was a "Queen" prior to that, or if there was, she wasn't really a sentient individual as she has been portrayed.

Per Star Trek: First Contact, a Queen was present at the Battle of Wolf 359. Personally, my headcanon says there are multiple Queens, each controlling their own segments of the Collective. But that's not supported by on-air dialogue.

I could definitely sign on to the idea that the Borg are somewhat aimless and only kinda know what they want. That's a characterization found the Destiny miniseries of pre-Coda books, for example.

 

[evilchumlee]

Per Star Trek: First Contact, a Queen was present at the Battle of Wolf 359. Personally, my headcanon says there are multiple Queens, each controlling their own segments of the Collective. But that's not supported by on-air dialogue.

Got my episode order mixed up there, for some reason I thought "I, Borg" was pre-Wolf 359.

Even still, she might not have been in the form that we know. Picard certainly didn't immediately recognize her... he seems to recall as her as more of a presence. She may have been more of a manifestation of the will of the Collective, not quite a defined individual but also not simply a voice in the collective.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Got my episode order mixed up there, for some reason I thought "I, Borg" was pre-Wolf 359.

Even still, she might not have been in the form that we know. Picard certainly didn't immediately recognize her... he seems to recall as her as more of a presence. She may have been more of a manifestation of the will of the Collective, not quite a defined individual but also not simply a voice in the collective.

That's certainly a possibility. Out of universe, the motivation change between "Q Who?" and "The Best of Both Worlds" makes things complicated, and the addition of the Queen in FC makes it more complicated.

In-universe, Star Trek: Picard's addition that Queens are extradimensional, or least aware of other timelines and realities... just makes things harder. It's possible that the Borg cross-pollinate with Borg from other realities, if Queens really do have their consciousness smeared across multiple universes and really do exist in superposition. But the Confederacy-timeline Queen might have just been making crap up, who knows.

 

[evilchumlee]

In-universe, Star Trek: Picard's addition that Queens are extradimensional, or least aware of other timelines and realities... just makes things harder. It's possible that the Borg cross-pollinate with Borg from other realities, if Queens really do have their consciousness smeared across multiple universes and really do exist in superposition. But the Confederacy-timeline Queen might have just been making crap up, who knows.

I take it as face value, we know the Borg at the very least dabble into other "dimensions", like fluidic space. It's not unheard of that they could have acquired some kind of multiversal communications tech or some such, and Queen mostly reserved that for herself. Or perhaps it's a "natural" ability of the Queen.

I've always taken Q's "don't provoke the Borg!" line to actually mean like, the Borg might actually be capable of at the very least being a nuisance to the Q. I make a connection with PIC S2 El Aurians to think that the Q may be somewhat limited against beings with some sort of deeper connection to space/time than most, and if the Queen has some kind of multiversal consciousness... it might be enough to make her a potential, possible threat.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

I take it as face value, we know the Borg at the very least dabble into other "dimensions", like fluidic space. It's not unheard of that they could have acquired some kind of multiversal communications tech or some such, and Queen mostly reserved that for herself. Or perhaps it's a "natural" ability of the Queen.

See also: the Queen's "you think in such three-dimensional terms" quote from FC, implying the Borg, or at least the Queen, isn't bound to just one universe.

[QUOTEI've always taken Q's "don't provoke the Borg!" line to actually mean like, the Borg might actually be capable of at the very least being a nuisance to the Q. I make a connection with PIC S2 El Aurians to think that the Q may be somewhat limited against beings with some sort of deeper connection to space/time than most, and if the Queen has some kind of multiversal consciousness... it might be enough to make her a potential, possible threat.

A cut scene from Star Trek: Generations said Guinan had that time-sense because part of her... soul, katra, whatever.. was stuck in the timey-wimey wibbley-wobbley mish-mash that is the Nexus (and by extrapolation, Soran would have had it, too).

Personally, I don't buy the argument that Q aren't omnipotent, but that's an argument for a different thread. "Don't provoke the Borg" is just a good rule, even if a Q wouldn't be personally affected by it. The Q do present themselves as caretakers of order; it's just John de Lancie's Q who is the renegade troublemaker. (to the annoyance of his fellow Q, it seems)

 

[evilchumlee]

Personally, I don't buy the argument that Q aren't omnipotent, but that's an argument for a different thread.

It came from what should generally be a reliable and knowledgable source.

Not to mention, we know from PIC S2 that the El Aurians outright fought... at least some type of war with the Continuum. Not only did they fight, the the El Aurians won at least some concessions from the Q, including the ability to summon a Q at will.