Do the Borg need / use traditional computers?

[Search4]

Its a simple question - but a complex answer perhaps.

Traditional computers (Star Trek style) run more or less autonomously. They operate incredibly fast. They are tremendous at routine tasks you need done quickly and reliably. And some not-routine tasks as well of course. They're very useful.

The Borg are in constant communication. I don't doubt they could out-answer a difficult question. Or optimize a battle strategy of 27 cubes. Or that the voices are "perfection" for drones. But does that mean the hive runs life support? Turns off power that's not in use? Reroute power from secondaries? Monitor routine systems? Does the equivalent of a diagnostic?

And can the drone/collective come to micro-fast decisions? Or is it inherently limited by the wetware involved, no matter how augmented?

I would argue that traditional computers are old-hat to the Borg (the certainly have assimilated species who use them) and they are in use. Other thoughts?

 

[Tarek71]

It seems like they still have computers, terminals, consoles, etc. But they just interface with it and each other differently. Sometimes you see them pushing buttons, but they also have an advanced neural interface as well.

We "interface" thru keyboards, mouse, joysticks and manual controllers. There is real world research into a more direct interface between machines and brains/nervous systems.

Think "double click" and the desired program opens. Limited manual input. The Borg naturally have achieved a far higher level of sophistication in this area.

 

[Wingsley]

This is a contradictory aspect of the VOY-era Borg. We know that each drone is directly linked to its hive and fellow hive members via a complex series of interactive subspace signals ("The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"). So, logically, they don't need to bother with pushing buttons, because they communicate via uber-subspace-wifi at all times anyway, presumably including when they are hard-wired in their regeneration alcoves. Yet we see the Borg manipulating control panels.

 

[at Quark's]

At the very least, they have an external traditional system for data storage compatible enough for the tricorders to interface with. Otherwise, how could the voyager away team in Scorpion download any data from which they learned about the existence of 'species 8472'?

Moreover, I think it would make sense that for at least some types of computation, traditional computers (trek style) would still be unparallelled.

The way I think about it is that the united borg consciousness is made possible by an underlying framework of traditional computing systems, highly advanced and highly distributed, augmented by their interfaces that allow their partly biological brains to become part of that system.

 

[Wingsley]

I would say the Borg themselves are computers. Their subspace-linked collective consciousness serves as a kind of workgroup computer system as well as a data network.

 

[SWHouston]

The direction of todays Computers is to multitask. Segmented processors are becoming more popular/necessary. I think the Borg, by their connectivity and number, have a definite advantage over the implied resources which are used in SF vessels and synthetic personnel.

 

[Timo]

The claimed goal of the Collective - to improve the quality of life of the assimilees - might require individual Drones to be provided with the best possible independent computation gear. They are provided with highly individual physical augmentations, after all; augmented mental processes and memory resources could be part of the package.

Yet it's all propaganda, of course, and since the Collective is such a closed system and even recovering victims are hesitant to speak, we can't tell whether it's true or not. Perhaps the "individual" tools bolted onto the poor Drones just make them better specialists for performing certain types of slave labor, and possibly there are no mental advantages, either, just further mental burdens.

We have seen no significant difference in the processing abilities of small vs. large Borg vessels, yet we learn often enough that a vessel on assignment may exist in isolation, only communicating with the Collective on occasion. Are small groups of Drone processors no less efficient and capable than large ones, or have such isolated groups never been tasked hard enough to reveal differences in processing ability?

Sometimes we see vessels explicitly isolated, either through physical or temporal separation, or then through quarantine measures. In such cases, though, the local Collective may have broken down already and gives poor comparison to the one case where it explicitly did not, ST:FC and the temporally isolated Sphere.

When isolated, an individual Drone never gets a chance to shine. But Seven of Nine does display superhuman mental/mnemonic/computing powers even after carefully de-Borgified. Is she an exception, a Princess of sorts being given preferential treatment and equipment rather than a regular Drone? Or would all Drones have such abilities (and better, as they wouldn't have been hobbled by the efforts of well-meaning Federation holo-doctors)?

We know that a major part of the Borg mental operations is the external Vinculum net, which seems to act as a memory storage and communications filtering medium among other roles. We could argue that the Vinculum is a tool, a "computer", that the Drones of the Collective use for conducting their lives. But we could equally argue that Drones are tools, "computers", that the Vinculum uses for conducting its life.

Where does that leave the wall displays, keyboards, buttons, levers and other interfaces? The Borg certainly use tools of all sorts, including wearing many of those on and in their bodies. Various types and levels of computing devices would no doubt be included, and many of those might be non-networked for reasons of security and safety, i.e. "hygiene". Neither the Drones nor the Vinculum could access them without the act of pulling the lever or pushing the button or at least plugging in the cable.

One just wonders whether some of those walls are Drones themselves, assimilated former lifeforms (even if artificial ones). The Borg have said that primitive machinery (such as Data) won't be embraced and improved under Collective rule, but discarded. While the Queen puts the lie to that for tactical reasons in ST:FC, we could say that "discarding" such valuable assets takes place by turning them into machines that have much fewer privileges than biological Drones. And one privilege taken away might be the ability to directly link to the Collective.

We can certainly count out the model where everything in the Collective would be completely interlinked, for whatever reasons. It may be connected, but it's still a hierarchy... We just don't know who's on top. The Queen? The Vinculum? The Collective? Something or someone preferring anonymity?

Timo Saloniemi