this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Risa
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Star Trek memes and shitposts
Come on'n get your jamaharon on! There are no real rules—just don't break the weather control network.
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I mean... What's wrong with assimilation other than it being forced on people?
Edit: Seriously. I'd love to see real opinions on the idea of borg assimilation, assuming that it's not forced. Obviously forcing it is evil, but what about the inherent nature of the process, what it does, and what happens to your mind?
Assimilated drones immediately lose all autonomy, and can never regain it without outside influence (which they will likely be compelled to resist). It's functionally suicide, except that your body and mind continue to be used for whatever purpose by an entity you have effectively no control over.
I understand joking about the benefits relative to the frequently unpleasant world we live in now, but I have serious concerns about anyone who would rather be a Borg drone than an ordinary 24th century Federation citizen.
I mostly question what the collective is like from the inside. The descriptions we get in the show tend to just say it's a constant cocophony of voices. To me, that implies the individual minds still exist within it, they just all share a collective voice. But at the same time, they have the queen and they kind of imply the queen directs the hive mind or at least is a manager of some kind. I'm a bit of a singularist, so some aspects of the Borg are just fascinating to me. I am fine with giving up physical autonomy to exist as just a mind in a collection of other minds; but I would still want my voice to matter and help shape the collective.
Perhaps not with the Borg, but I just don't have fears toward the merging into a collective part. The body horror is scary and really just because it looks painful as hell to be assimilated.
Or perhaps I'm just envious of Picard and Seven who got to experience something most don't. Even if it was a bad experience... I really gravitate toward experiences that are aren't real or impossible for me to have. I know I am of the time Picard lived an entire lifetime in his mind because of an alien probe. That would be dope.
The voice of an individual in the collective is roughly equivalent to a vote in a democracy: it's real and it's there, but there are so many other votes/minds involved that the chances of yours having any influence at are are negligible.
I value democracy and community, but I'm not willing to put every single action I take,however small, up to a public vote.