What do you do with Hugh in "I, Borg?"

Captain Picard's Hair · Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:40 am

This is a timely post as this episode is playing on the G4 network right now (in New York). It's a great episode, and I always enjoy watching it, but it's a good question: should Picard have not "infected" Hugh with Goerdi's invasive program before sending him back to the Borg? To reference a famous Spockism, Picard put the good of the one over the good of countless billions.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:31 am

No question whatsoever - he should have been infected and sent back. Even Starfleet (albeit in the form of Nechayev - one of the few with any sense) agreed that Picard abrogated his oath by putting his feeling sorry for the poor little lonely Borg above the good of the Feeration.

Jordanis · Post by **Jordanis** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 10:42 am

Yeah, and when Starfleet says you're too soft...!

Deepcrush · Post by **Deepcrush** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:26 pm

Agreed, Hugh should have been used against the borg!

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:42 pm

He was a perfect weapon, use him by all means.

RK_Striker_JK_5 · Post by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:10 am

Infect and send back. End one of the greatest threats to the federation in one fell stroke.

Post by **Teaos** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:27 am

I kind of agree with Picard. I know that infecting Hugh and sending him back to hurt the Borg is the smart thing to do but you can't sacrifice a sentient individual with out their consent no matter what their past is.

Post by **Tsukiyumi** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:56 am

On a different note, using the virus would've left hundreds of thousands of Borg ships adrift across the galaxy, just waiting for someone else to salvage...

Post by **Teaos** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:05 am

True but its been shown plenty of times that just having access to advanced tech through reverse engenering does not mean they will rise to that level themselvs.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:12 am

Teaos wrote:I kind of agree with Picard. I know that infecting Hugh and sending him back to hurt the Borg is the smart thing to do but you can't sacrifice a sentient individual with out their consent no matter what their past is.

Why? It would be the equivalent of repatriating a captured enemy agent having supplyed him with false intelligence. In this case the effect would be to crash the Borg collective network, destroying the key to their coordination and intelligence-gathering. The destruction of the Borg as a result of systems failure is merely a side effect of that primary goal and, due to the nature of the Borg, its effect would be limited to their military (albeit because the Borg are nothing but a military).

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:13 am

Tsukiyumi wrote:On a different note, using the virus would've left hundreds of thousands of Borg ships adrift across the galaxy, just waiting for someone else to salvage...

If they don't self-destruct in the same manner as the cube in BoBW, or the unicomplex in "Endgame".

Post by **Teaos** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:17 am

But then we have that cube in Voyager that was drifting due to the virus the kids brough on board it. Maybe they only self destruct if the queen goes down.

Captain Picard's Hair · Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:24 pm

I kind of agree with Picard. I know that infecting Hugh and sending him back to hurt the Borg is the smart thing to do but you can't sacrifice a sentient individual with out their consent no matter what their past is.

He was already going back to the Borg, by his own choice. At the time, nobody knew what would be the result; it was possible he'd be re-assimilated without a problem and lose his individuality. Also, if Hugh knew what the virus was, so would the Borg when they assimilate him, and you'd have defeated the purpose of the virus. It was designed so that it would have to go through "several hundred computational cycles" before it was effective (and it would need this time to spread across the entire collective), so the Borg would have had time to come up with a defense against it.

colmquinn · Post by **colmquinn** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:55 pm

I think it wouldn't have stopped the Borg totally, I'd imagine that once the queen figured out what was going on she'd sacrifice the infected areas and come after earth with a vengence as they'd have showen they were a major threat to the collective.
I don't totally understand the meaning of having to go through hundreds of computational cycles to be honest but surely a single cube could do that in no time flat and then the situation would become clear to the rest of em and isolate the problem.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:59 pm

colmquinn wrote:I don't totally understand the meaning of having to go through hundreds of computational cycles to be honest but surely a single cube could do that in no time flat and then the situation would become clear to the rest of em and isolate the problem.

The whole point of the shape was that it looked harmless at a glance, but it was impossible for it to exist, like one of Escher's designs. The principle was the same as the old logic trap of "This statement is a lie". The same would become more and more complex with each cycle until it grew big enough to clog the collective's entire network and crash it.