Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The Borg are Among Us

The Borg are Among Us


Remember "Star Trek - the Next Generation"?  There was a parasitic culture called the Borg.  The Borg would roam the galaxy destroying other cultures and absorbing victims of all species into its networked collective.  Every Borg was networked into every other Borg.  Each individual Borg was only generally aware of its individual situation, being tied into the hive mind, working toward hive objectives.

Well, they're here.  They stand and walk, oblivious to everything but the hive which communicates through a hand-held cell phone.  With the passage of time, these automatons are becoming more common, not less.  Apparently, humanity's criminal class is not mugging these creatures fast enough.  The lack of situational awareness that make then vulnerable is compensated for by the fact that the population is being absorbed by the collective at a much greater rate.

You see them, mindlessly making their way, in elevators, on the street, everywhere.

What can the benefit be to such an existence?  Is the workforce really augmented with endless e-mails captured and sent on the fly?

Is ordinary existence really so unbearable without a never ending stream of cat videos?

Are we networking ourselves so diligently that we don't even notice the deterioration of our collective standard of living or are the Borg seeking a way to cling to the few remaining scraps?

What do they see when they gaze deeply into that tiny screen?  Is it a suitable substitute for a life?

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