I’m assuming that you have a basic knowledge of the Borg. No need to fear though. If your knowledge of the Borg is lacking, please read this article from Wikipedia and come back: wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg.  You know who the Borg are now. You probably are thinking that I’m going to point at your phone, your Bluetooth and your tablet and say you’ve already been assimilated into the Borg. I might even talk about the Nokia tattoo. You’re right, in fact I did it with such insight and humor that you don’t even need to finish reading. Quickly, while the details are still fresh in your mind, email your ten best friends and tell them how great this article was…

You’re still here?  Great!!! There’s still hope for you then. The previous part was an attempt to weed out the people that had already been assimilated. Let me come clean, this is about the Borg and unfortunately you’re probably well down the assimilation path and just don’t realize it. Certainly not by the gadgets, Uhura was wearing a Bluetooth earpiece long before we knew about the Borg. No, I mean the collective mind trying to assimilate all of us.

Let’s review what we know about the Borg. They Borg shared a hive mind. Thoughts of one Borg were shared with all the other Borg. If a Borg died or left their memories were still part of the Collective. The Borg even had limited free will. Of course, you went against the collective mind at great peril. As a whole the collective disapproved of independent thought and action. Isolate a Borg from the collective mind and they felt great emptiness and isolation. Sound familiar yet? No?

Have you looked at your Facebook page recently? The one where you share all your pictures, thoughts and even location. You already know that feeling of anxiety that you feel if you go too long without checking your Facebook page. You’ve already seen what happens if someone does something the Collective disapproves of.  True, Facebook is unlikely to send minions after you if you avoid the Collective.  This is the initial phase. How often do you see ads and contests urging you to join Facebook. This is the kinder gentler Borg. They’re only persuading you right now. How many of your friends are suggesting you need to join Facebook? You say you’re avoiding Facebook? How about Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ ? Sooner or later you’ll join. That twinge of uneasiness you’re starting to feel, that urge to check to check your email right now suggests your assimilation has already started. How long has it been since you last checked your email anyway? I think that ding was your email calling…

© 2012 – 2019, Byron Seastrunk. All rights reserved.