Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

February 21, 2021

ST Borg 

The Borg resistance is futile 

   This cybernetic life form exemplifies humanities Complex History with technology. Humanity’s desire to explore the Borg’’s quest  for technological perfection at the expense of individuality and for dominance is problematic in which neither can exist in current State of either society.

Damn Q

When were we first introduced to this cybernetic race of conquerors?

It started as a battle of wills between John Luc  Picard and Q the omniscient species that would harass humankind throughout the ST 23rd century. Q saw it as a challenge to remind or sat down captain Picard when he would assert that humankind was ready for any challenge in the universe. Of course this did not mean they were ready for the Borg. 

And who could be ready for a bunch of beings that were only bent to conquer and to add to technology and whatever materials they required to support that technology. There was no room for individuality there was no room for preservation of cultures whirls were disassemble added to the collective and then those worlds were left decimated. And they did not care.

Because they would be thrown early into the perception of the Borg they would be dragged into a very costly war with the Federation was not even halfway prepared.

End it all started with this omniscient but annoying being in a very arrogant Starfleet captain.

Borg what underestimate the saverance of humankind that even though they would take heavy casualties they would go on the offensive and would do major damage to the collective as well as destroy it in the end.

Persistence is not futile when you deal with humans and there was no way that humans were going to allow the Borg to destroy them. Every encounter they would improve and developing more innovative ways to defeat this common enemy. What I found most interesting is if they could have figured out a way to assimilate the technology without completely decimating the individuality of every race they encountered,  how much better would the collective have been and how almost unconquerable they would’ve been?

Dark is not evil it’s just different 

Certain things I found problematic because with the introduction of the both queen and her persistence in bringing back Locutus, Seven, Janeway back to the hive, it was as if that storyline was primarily based on a woman being scorned and weak. She had trillions of Borg who were faceless drones at her disposal what did these 3  individuals represent to the totality of the. Collective? However it does make sense that the hive mind being controlled by just one queen is the main vulnerability of the Bourque. There is no redundancy back up Systems win each of the trillions or even billions of drones are disconnected from the one processor and control. You sever the connection you take out the queen that’s the end to the strength of the collective. There is no more collective. This is their fatal flaw.

And why is it necessary that an old white dude Picard and skinny white chick, Janeway, were responsible to conquer the Borg? The only non-white person that got really close to conquering an enemy the dominion with Captain Cisco he basically got drawn back into the profits before we all could realize that win. The riders of the series are very socially toned that I get it and they can only write from a perspective or from their privileged perspective. But if you don’t utilize writers like the late Octavia Butler to develop socially relevant storylines,  you’re going to continue to have these lily white protagonist bent on world domination and imperial conquering of the backward dark foreign races. Zenophobic, Zionist at its core, no place in entertainment.

I get it. I don’t think it was meant to be a highly charged treatise  with racial connotations but I do readily admit that in a world where the saviors have  always been categorically change to white Jesus, a middle eastern Hebrew, did not have blond hair and blue eyes, and the prevalence and persistence of white supremacy in every entertainment platform that exists non-Black or Brown writers only write what they know and simply assume the nerdy consumer won’t except anything different. There is a pool of Billions that are waiting for the stories, we are waiting for the stories. 

Picard series has introduced us to a chastised Romulan Not empire with a group of militant war nuns, the Qa’wot Milat

and my crush on its only male member, Elinor.

Where do these storylines end up? We get reintroduced to the sect on Discovery because Michael Burnhams mother becomes one of them. I honestly think star trek has done a better job than most commercial series in its cast representing a large swath of the population that watches, but it’s depictions still need to do a better job of it.

Are any of these themes and storylines actionable?  How do you balance between technology and carbon-based life form in life in general. Is there a problem with our over dependency on connectedness and technology and information? I’m sure there is but I do think with better information and better processing of the information we can make better decisions. But we should never be at the point where we allow the technology to make the decisions for us. My issue with artificial intelligence I don’t think it should take the place of human decisions.  It should be used judiciously and  in conjunction with human decisions.

The exploration and advancements in technology and especially in this time with our new frontier being open by the Mars exploration with human manned missions in the not so distant future. We can’t be so arrogant to think we are the only beings out here, we will need a Prine directive as to effectively not become intergalactic Zionist and rationalize genocide. If we can learn to co-exist with each other maybe we can be prepared to interact with with extraterrestrials. There has to be a balance between exploration and conquest. Our galaxy is too big not to be able to live in union and dominance and conquering has no place in a progressive society anyways.

However in addition to initial special-effects being tacky in the Next GEN series, if you have a high definition set and you watch the original series closely, you notice little things where the latex mask on original contact with the Borg in the series, you start to separate and you start to see the actual hoe actors neck through the mass which you would never of noticed if you weren’t paying attention. I’m thankful for CGI technology and also improvement on make up because I cannot see any of these types of costume malfunctions happening on subsequent series. Kind of funny. 

But what is not funny and compels me to rewatch some of these episodes is to get a better and deeper understanding of what drive the Borg’s quest for perfection. They endeavor to acquire  the perfect technology for the collective, and as we resist we discover our humanity,  and what makes protecting life so important. Maybe that was the point of Q even though he was so condescending we basically missed the whole thing.

Lessons from the Collective

I’m at the part of Of an NGT segment where Riker enters into the Borg nursery,

which is a storyline Seven of Nine in Voyager 

was referring to because she was assimilated when she was about four or five and  she was put into the incubation chamber““ ended the chaos of her individuality.

The whole idea of collaborative work is compelling however the preservation of individuality within the collaborative is a much higher goal that would be harder to obtain.

I think it’s classic that the Mars Rover vehicle being called Preserverace because that explains humanities quest to continue to push for technological advances and to explore.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

The prime directive states its OK not to interfere with the natural development of pre-warp civilization seems a very grand ideal but does not apply to other races, like the Borg whose purpose is to conquer and annihilate cannot be tolerated. We and other races have a right to exist and to excel. We should be allowed to explore and gain knowledge and and you can’t be with that, just get the hell on.

July 8, 2018

The next meeting of the Book Club(Title Pending) is July 10th, at 7pm on Facebook.

We will be discussing Walker Percy’s The MovieGoer for our 3rd meeting of the Bookclub. How did I settle on this book instead of on, Fifty Shades of Whatever you may ask?

I was actually Googling list of William Faulkner’s books and one of the lists that returned was the greatest novels of the 20th century, with Lolita, Catcher and The Rye, Ulysses listed to name a few, but this particular author, Percy Walker, I had never heard of who had written a book I didn’t know existed. This book is definitely circa 1960, South, so excuse dude’s reference to Coloreds and Negroes and Negresses. I don’t know about ya’ll, but the vague “search” he is talking about is confusing. Is he having a seizure or a psychotic break?

What I definitely find interesting is the cast of characters contributing to the plot. Binx, is a 30 something stockbroker, who likes to ride the bus, go to the movies, and take advantage of his secretaries. He has a routine ordinary life and doesn’t like to deviate from the routineness of it all(OCD? Pervasive Spectrum? I know you can take the girl out of the Pediatric office but can’t take the pediatrics out the girl.) His Aunt Emily, formidable old bitty, typical Southern Belle, who will bless your heart and stab you in the forehead. Eddie, the brother of Kate’s who is Binx’s cousin, dead brother. Mercer, butler of Aunt Emily and Uncle Jules. He is as Binx describes” a living connection with a bygone age.” Percy, Walker. The Moviegoer: A Novel (p. 23). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.

Uncle Jules is an old school, Caucasian, aristocrat, wealthy, landed, and confident. Nothing bothers this guy, even his own daughter’s nervous breakdown. Walter is Kate’s new fiancé, and a bit of a dandy. And one of the most interesting characters mentioned is Didie, Eddie’s sister, who is a swinger even in 1960 New Orleans. I am only halfway in and I can’t wait to see how this krewe, which is usually an organization of rich people that puts on the parades during Mardi Gras, this collection of odd balls will contribute to the tale that Walker Percy is weaving.

My bestie and I text more often than not. We would prefer not to speak unless we have something to say. We are both voracious readers, and have no patience for fluff or just garbage. I participated when I could in the WSJ Bookclub, but it is now defunct. I see this as a way to share interests with my friends and reconnect. But we, at my urging decided the weekend of of 25th College Reunion to start a bookclub.

What this will not be is a platform for abuse or spam, because you will blocked and reported. This is not an advice column, self help corner, or free medical advice(save medical questions for the MD listed on your insurance card) This is not the place to get volunteers for your own causes, you will get the proverbial “Girl or Boy Bye!” and you will be reported and blocked. This is not a class, so no real assignments, you read the selections, and you participate. The premise of the club,”We read what is interesting.” I encourage you to submit suggestions for the group to read and questions for discussions. I hope to record live discussions using Google Chat or we can talk about a featured Podcast. The first bookclub chat is June 19th, at 7pm EST.

First Few Books for the group to consider:

Let’s keep it fun!