"We will add your technological and biological distinctiveness to our own ..."

[at Quark's]

We hear this phrase several times when the Borg are about to assimilate a group. But what does it mean, exactly?

I mean, sure, the technological part is 'easy': you assimilate species x, you gain its knowledge and hence its technology, which, from that point on, you can start using throughout the Collective.

But what about the biological in their statement? Suppose the Borg assimilate a race, born with super strength. From now on do they simply have a limited number of drones (originally from that species), possessed with that super strength - but never any more than that? Or do the Borg analyse that 'biological distinctiveness' and really 'add it to their own', i.e. all drones get an upgrade (or at least the ones the Collective considers it relevant for)?

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

I see it as a cyborg pick-up line. It breaks their collective heart when species reject it, and everything after that is from spite.

 

[Henoch]

I wonder how would the Borg deal with powerful god-like or energy beings? Would they simple give up and by-pass those entities, or would the Borg start a long term assault hoping to figure out how they can assimilate them?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I'm surprised the Borg don't go into Genetic Engineering of it's own drones and take features from many species instead of assimilation.

 

[BorgMan]

I'm surprised the Borg don't go into Genetic Engineering of it's own drones and take features from many species instead of assimilation.

The Borg simply don't know how to "learn" from others. They acquire knowledge by assimilation. That's why the Undine (Species 8472) were able to so effectively resist the Borg: the Collective couldn't assimilate any of its members, and thus could not muster an adequate defense because it lacked the knowledge about what the weak points were.

As far as the "biological distinctiveness" goes: I think they can push the nanobots inside a drone's body to adapt said drone to different situations, i.e. not needing air for a while, even though the biological components would still need to be sustained some way or another. Perhaps a species which breathed only once every few hours was assimilated in the past, and then this trait was passed on to the rest of the drones?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

But some entity like the Borg Queen which had control over the Hive Mind could also be a creative engineer like leader would make for a scary opponent. Imagine the creative powers of all of StarFleets best Engineers / Geneticists / Doctors with no limits on morality / empathy being in charge of a new Borg Collective.
They've gained the secrets of Jem Hadar genetic engineering.
Imagine what kind of super soldiers they can make then.

 

[C.E. Evans]

To me, "biological distinctiveness" is just another way of the Borg saying "you."

 

[trekshark]

Originally when they had babies (their first appearance) it'd make sense that they were mix and matching assimilated dna

 

[Prax]

It just means "we are going to take your technology, and your bodies. You will serve us as drones"

 

[Mojochi]

The "biological distinctiveness" part isn't like the technological, the way adapting & disseminating Geordi's VISOR or Picard's artificial heart to other drones would be. It's just part of the overall "You will service us" mission statement. Like if Ferengis have greater hearing than most & Benzites can live off breathing fumes or whatever... that stuff's gonna benefit us now, Chief, because we're taking YOU & you'll keep using it maybe

 

[Boris Skrbic]

Why would biological and technological distinctiveness be additive?

 

[Mojochi]

Why would biological and technological distinctiveness be additive?

I imagine, in many case it wouldn't be, only if the assimilated species had something new or better than the Borg had previously had, would it then be a relevant addition to their designs or implementations

 

[HugeLobes]

It just means "we are going to take your technology, and your bodies. You will serve us as drones"

This. You know all those things you think make your species unique? They're just going to absorbed by the collective now.

I'm surprised the Borg don't go into Genetic Engineering of it's own drones and take features from many species instead of assimilation.

I always felt the Borg worked best as a pretty stupid race. They were more like a computer virus than a species capable of devising creative solutions, which is part of what makes them so unsettling. There's something very scary about something so relentless and dispassionate.

 

[at Quark's]

Why would biological and technological distinctiveness be additive?

At least it sounds less depressing than : ' "you" will be subtracted from your biological and technological distinctivness'.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

At least it sounds less depressing than : ' "you" will be subtracted from your biological and technological distinctivness'.

That would actually be scarier.

 

[Prax]

"You will be converted into our technology"

 

[Tim Thomason]

Why would biological and technological distinctiveness be additive?

9999999999+0.000000001 is still an addition problem. It doesn't add much, but there's something added. Keep adding more, and more and more, you eventually add up to something.

The Borg believe everyone has value. Every vote counts. Every new drone matters.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

9999999999+0.000000001 is still an addition problem. It doesn't add much, but there's something added. Keep adding more, and more and more, you eventually add up to something.

The Borg believe everyone has value. Every vote counts. Every new drone matters.

Not in that way. What the Borg really mean is they’ll use your biological and technological distinctiveness towards perfecting the Collective. If the Borg have no use for a drone’s bat’leth skills, they will not be added to their own, merely analyzed and recorded.

 

[at Quark's]

The Borg believe everyone has value. Every vote counts. Every new drone matters.

Except, apparently, some Kazon as a group of them were 'unworthy of assimilation'.

 

[Maurice]

I always felt the Borg worked best as a pretty stupid race. They were more like a computer virus than a species capable of devising creative solutions, which is part of what makes them so unsettling. There's something very scary about something so relentless and dispassionate.

I think army ants was sort of the original notion.