The Borg is perhaps as representative of the Star Trek series as much as Enterprise or Voyager is. Always on the prowl to make contact with new species and assimilate them into the Collective, the Borg is one of the most feared enemies of the Federation.
The Borg is unique. Unlike other species, the Borg do not fight for territory or power. They only need your technology. The purpose of their very existence is to find and assimilate alien technology to their own. Once a species is assimilated, all their technological expertise and cultural distinctiveness passes on to the Collective. The Borg drones are not individuals, they share a Collective mind or its cybernetic equivalent.
I can not help but wonder how much we live in a Borg-like state today, with a life more and more immersed in technology. A new breed of human beings who love technology and want to be surrounded by it, be it our Blackberrys or iPods, our smartphones or laptops. Cases abound of people addicted to the Web or their smartphones, losing all sense of time and reality when they are plugged in, much like the Borg drones. So the next time you feel the urgent craving to check your mail when you are holidaying in Hawaii, stop and recall the Borg hail.
Resistance is futile. Maybe it is true. Maybe we are being assimilated.
