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Shouldn't every Borg have the "Cyberneticist" trait?
DimeDrl
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I mean, the Borg are named after Cyborgs and Cyborg is short for Cybernetic Organism. And every Borg is a Cyberneticist on some level because they all work to turn any new sentient organism into a Borg via Cybernetic augmentation. And they all are skilled at and work with cybernetics even when disconnected from the collective. It doesn't get much more Cyberneticist than assimilation, which is every Borg's primary function.
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Now, one could argue that with the collective intelligence, any Borg has the assimilated knowledge of several cyberneticists, and so could potentially execute tasks like these. However, that would open the gates to a lot of Borg chefs, musicians, gamblers or romantics.
My two cents
Yeah, but if you went on to perform dentistry on others after....
I'm just saying every borg practices the act of assimilation, which is turning others into Borg through cybernetics.
I cut myself, I put a plaster on it, that does not make me a Doctor.
The handle breaks off my cup, I glue it back on, that does not make me an engineer, but it might make me a jury rigger.
I can quote Shakespeare , that does not make me a Klingon.
So we're just ignoring that all Borg assimilate then? Okay.
I take your point, but Borg drones, if they happen to be assimilating at that time, are little more than a delivery device for nanoprobes. A DHL employee delivering a computer wouldn't get the Computer Technician trait, and nor would their van.
"Arm up, tubules out" does not a cyberneticist make.
Except that they are a hive mind and as such any individual action is also a group action and vice versa. It is why Locutus says "We are the Borg" even when he is on his own.
True, as Captain Obvious pointed out earlier - so they all get the same traits? And as they've assimilated so many trillions, that would mean they get every trait, surely?
Edit: We've seen various specialist drones in the Borg. I think that traits on a per-drone basis make sense. Not every drone is an assimilation "specialist".
Except traits that are for species (though Vulcan ended up being given to Burnham Miranda Jones)
My comment was directed towards your unedited. When I quoted I got your edit but had not read it.
That argument isn't all that good though. The hive mind may have all the info, but the drones aren't actively using it all. But every drone DOES assimilate and even though they use nanites, they also actively use cybernetics to adapt to situations, find new assimilation techniques and to recover parts from downed drones or to even revive some in certain cases.
Every drone is designed to assimilate, adapt and advance Borg perfection. And all of that tends to be handled with cybernetics. A key example is how Seven of Nine repeatedly harmed herself trying to use Borg tech to improve herself even after she wasn't a drone. Without her base personality (Annika Hanson) to guide her behavior, she continued to live as a drone trying to recapture her humanity and used cybernetics endlessly trying to accomplish much of it. Without the hive mind knowledge.
So its like none of the examples given thus far. Seven is proof that drones retain cybernetics knowledge even when disconnected from the hive and can use it to adapt, innovate and advance technology. Meaning every drone is a walking, Assimilating Cyberneticist.
Obviously yes, if you were plugged into some sort of "collective consciousness" then you could probably access skills and memories in the same way a user accesses content on a server.
But there's literally zero research into the sci-fi idea of how much information a human brain would retain if you give them access to a server, let them use it for 20 years, and then disconnect them. Because we can't do that. So don't argue about it.
Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Seven of Nine had some "robot brain" behind that eye socket, that probably had a few microSD cards in it, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, more relevant to our game, I think when DB came up with the "cyberneticist" trait, it was meant for Data. That's why LaForge and Crusher have it, two people who knew how to work on him. Giving it to Locutus may have been a bad idea, as Picard himself had no prior skillset, thus meaning yes, every active and "current" Borg drone should get it.
Although really, every character who is an active Borg Drone should literally have maxed out skills in all 6 categories, because they're still plugged in to the collective knowledge of literally thousands of species and billions upon billions of drones. Meanwhile as I'm saying that, it's even more ridiculous that the Borg were so weak, because with that amount of knowledge and processing power they should have literally evolved technologically at an exponential pace.
Which is why the Borg don't make sense, for so many reasons, and also don't trust Star Trek for accurate science.
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That's a great rationalization, possibly also because he was literally connected to Data at the time? Should we agree that the cyberneticist trait revolves around Data?
EDIT: Ignore that, I just realized a TON of people have it, including Leah Brahms, who has never been shown doing anything android related on-screen.
Better question is... why don't the Binars have it?
There are definitely inconsistencies around traits (no surprise), since several variations of LaForge (ie: conditioned LaForge) should not have it since he definitely was in no frame of mind to be utilizing that skillset (queue the active vs inherent trait debate).
I can't figure out why Leah Brahms has the trait, or why a couple variations of Bashir have the trait.
I'm surprised that no variants of The Doctor or Seven have the trait, since they worked on/with various drones and former drones, and did extensive work with nanoprobes (along with Torres, who does have the trait).
Actually, Seven is proof that Seven retained that knowledge after being disconnected. Seven and Locutus were 'special' drones. We saw that each 'normal' drone had differences in its implants, too. Your assumption that they are all identical isn't what was shown in Star Trek canon. Here, take a look:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Medical_repair_drone
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tactical_drone
If we take the Voyager idea that there are specialist drones, then none of Timelines' Borg get the trait, because none of them are flagged onscreen in their episode as Cybernetics specialists.
Personally, I think drones weren't originally intended to be specialists (hence the name..?). In TNG they appeared to be generic and multi-functional (despite having different machine parts) - so none of Timelines' Borg get the trait, because none of them are flagged in their episode as Cybernetics specialists.
The exception that proves the rule is Locutus. In his episode, he is pivotal in developing the plan to defeat the Borg ship through their cybernetic nature. Therefore: Cyberneticist trait.
The Doc and Seven did some cybernetics work, true, but it arguably didn't appear to be a specialist subject for them (although I think it should be, for the Doc at least). But if we get a version of them from an episode where cyberneticism is what they're all about, then they should get the trait.
So if DB add any further drones doing cyberneticky things in their episode, those should get the Cyberneticist trait. For example, the drone who repeats and repeats and repeats "arm up, tubules out" against the hull of a Species 8472 ship will definitely have the trait, due to his outstanding contributions to the field.
Of course, while all of this is a brilliant explanation, it's also totally worthless, as the traits in Timelines are a bit... uneven, to say the least. Why does RAF O'Brien lose his Starfleet status and Federation citizenship just to get a couple of hours in the holosuite?
The engineer who has almost all his variants with the cyberneticist trait gets assimilated and loses the trait.
More proof each borg retains Cyberneticist traits after disconnected from the hive mind. Two, Three and Four of Nine were able to perform cybernetic actions after leaving the Borg, including reprogramming their Borg nanites to read Seven's memories.
Leah Brahms
CMO Crusher
Commando Crusher
Dr Crusher
Captain Beverly Picard
Juliana Tainer
Commander Maddox
Chief Engineer Torres
Liaison Torres
Duelist Torres
Assimilated Torres
Human Torres
Injured Torres
Lore
The One, Lore
Dr. Soong
Locutus of Borg
Chief Engineer La Forge
Lt. Commander La Forge
Doctor La Forge
Captain La Forge
Age of Sail La Forge
Musketeer La Forge
Alan-A-Dale
Interfaced La Forge
Geordi La Forge
Conditioned La Forge
Bounty Hunter Mudd
CMO Bashir
Bashir, Julian Bashir
Alternate Future Bashir
Ruk
Lt. Commander Data
Tempted Data
Detective Data
Prospero Data
Friar Tuck Data
Emotion Chip Data
Romulan Data
Age of Sail Data
Data V
H.M.S. Pinafore Data
The Professor