The Borg: Is resistance really futile?
“Resistance is futile!” The threat of assimilation by the Borg is as sinister as it is fascinating. All individuality evaporates in the collective, one is never alone again, one’s body is technically enhanced with implants and nanotechnology, in the collective one’s will is secondary.
For Captain Picard, his own assimilation is a nightmare, for the Borg Hugh the encounter with the Enterprise is a new perspective: on board the Enterprise and shielded from the collective, he develops his own personality again. Seven of Nine also manages to break away from the collective with the help of the Voyager crew.
The question of how swarm intelligence is to be considered against individuality and what role the idea of transhumanism and cybernetics plays in this context will be elaborated in this lecture. At the same time, an overview of all Star Trek series from The Next Generation to Picard will be presented, showing the development of the Borg and how they are dealt with.