# Star Trek Borg question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014 "2002-05-27T06:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/1 "2002-05-27T06:35:20Z")
The borg have sheilds which adapt to the frequencies of the phasers being fired at them. But they seem to have no defence against physical assult. For example, in First Contact, Piccard turned off the Hollodeck saftey and used a machine gun to kill a Borg. That being the case, why didn’t the federation make machine guns and send in soldiers to just shoot the Borg ? Their sheilds wouldn’t be able to protect them. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/2 "2002-05-27T06:48:25Z")
I would guess the Borg would’ve eventually adapted: Picard killed them all before then, though. The shields were set up for beam discharges, not projectiles. ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/3 "2002-05-27T07:05:22Z")
I got the feeling that Picard’s Thompson Submachine Gun took those drones by surprise - by the time the second started to adapt, the first was dead and bullets were tearing into drone #2. You’ll notice that when he was done, Picard dropped the Tommy gun and didn’t go to a replicator and dial up a “real” one. It’s been demonstrated that you’ll get two or three shots in on the Borg before they adapt to your weapon. Picard got lucky. So did Worf when he used a blade on a drone later in the same movie. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/4 "2002-05-27T07:53:09Z")
Heh… the Borg’s adaptation is insanely overrated. If they adapted to Federation phasers way back in _Q Who?_, and if they supposedly have a singular hive mind, why haven’t ALL Borg adapted to phasers? How come the adaptation seems short-lived and short-ranged? > [@](#): > > That being the case, why didn’t the federation make machine guns and send in soldiers to just shoot the Borg ? Because the Federation is composed of the biggest idiots ever to fly in space. If it’s no high-tech, covered in LED’s and holographic displays, and doesn’t have unnecessary blue bars of light going along each side, it’s not considered a useful tool. Heck, you could probably take over the entire Federation with a single kevlar jacket and an M-16. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/5 "2002-05-27T08:11:52Z")
But wasn’t it worth it for the excellent juxtoposition of a respected Shakespearean actor and a tommy gun? ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/6 "2002-05-27T09:23:46Z")
Come on. How often do Federation types go marching into battle against borg like foot soldiers? Twice in eight years? Usually when they face off against the Borg it’s in a space battle. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Paradise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Sal\_Paradise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Paradise)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/7 "2002-05-27T10:06:36Z")
Simply because in the Star Trek Universe everyone involved with the Federation is an academic. How many graduate students in our world would pick up an M-16 and take out some enemies? Not many , they would tackle the problem the way they know how. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/8 "2002-05-27T11:08:32Z")
And the Federation does experiment with projectile weapons. I seem to remember one–it was more or less a rifle–that got used in _DS9_. I think O’Brien said that it had been designed for combat in electro-magnetic dampening fields or something. In the episode in question a crazy Vulcan was using this rifle to shoot through a “transporter field,” thereby killing people in other parts of the space station without damaging any of the intervening walls, life-forms, machines, and so on. I’m not sure, but I think all this occurred late in the series, after the Cool Sexy Smart Dax had been replaced by [personal prejudice]Ugly Stupid Immature Dax[/personal prejudice] as keeper of the slug. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/9 "2002-05-27T11:30:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sal Paradise \* > \*\*Simply because in the Star Trek Universe everyone involved with the Federation is an academic. How many graduate students in our world would pick up an M-16 and take out some enemies? Not many , they would tackle the problem the way they know how. \*\* Graduates from West Point, VMI, or the Naval Academy are certainly academics as well. Star Fleet is a military organization despite what they may have said in one episode or another. They might be academics but they’re still fighting men trained in the art of war. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/10 "2002-05-27T15:08:10Z")
Hey, I liked Ezri! She (the Nicole DeBoer, that is) had a tough assignment and I thought she did a good job. (While Terry Farrel languishes in a stupid sitcom. Sheesh.) Sorry, OT. Well, if ONE borg cube adapts to a weapon, are ALL borg cubes adapted? If it gets blown up before uploading to its other cubes, maybe not. There, back on topic. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/11 "2002-05-27T15:12:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tim R. Mortiss \* > \*\*…While Terry Farrel languishes in a stupid sitcom. Sheesh. > … \*\* Well, you’ll be happy to know she’s been written out of _Becker_. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/12 "2002-05-27T17:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enola Straight \* > \*\*I would guess the Borg would’ve eventually adapted: Picard > killed them all before then, though. > > The shields were set up for beam discharges, not projectiles. \*\* Picard killed them all before then, though ? I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying. Could you please re-phrase that? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/13 "2002-05-27T17:13:20Z")
As for the Borg adapting to things like guns and knives. I was under the impression that their shields were for energy weapons only. Also, Data seemed stronger than the Borg, he easily broke ones neck in one episode. The Borgs shields didn’t protect them from hand to hand combat in any of the TV series or movies that I know about, so even if they couldn’t make more Data’s, they probably could have made more simple robots or androids and send them in to do hand to had combat with the Borg. Their shields would be useless, and the borg couldn’t assimilate them since they wouldn’t have any living tissue. Just a thought. Anyway, I’d better stop now before I sound like an even bigger nerd than I probably sound like now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/14 "2002-05-27T17:17:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joel \* > \*\*For example, in First Contact, Piccard turned off the Hollodeck saftey and used a machine gun to kill a Borg. \*\* [point of clarification] Indeed. But doesn’t it require the authorization of two officers to disable the Holodeck safety measures? And yet, Picard was alone when he disabled them in First Contact. [/point of clarification] ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/15 "2002-05-27T17:32:04Z")
KarlGauss, nope. The holodeck safety measures will, by design, go down at least once per season, almost always without authorization. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/16 "2002-05-27T21:36:32Z")
Hehehehe…Ohhhhh…Anyway, I don’t know all of the technical details like how many officers it takes to turn off the holodeck safety…hey, that sounds like a joke… How many officers does it take to turn off the holodeck safety?.. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/17 "2002-05-27T23:56:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I was under the impression that their shields were for energy weapons only. Well, one major contention is that phasers and such work on a frequency basis, like light waves or radiation. If you can match the frequency (actually, you don’t want to match it, you want to get the exact opposite of it), you can cancel out the phaser beam with a minimum of expended energy. This would explain why you can also just shoot through a Federation shield if you know the right shield frequency (like what happened in _Generations_). With solid objects, there’s no frequency you can use to just nullify the attack. Of course, Treknology is just so unstable, erratic, and unpredictable (heck, the crew of the Enterprise can’t even predict how much energy they can pull from their warp core) that these sorts of analyses are bound to be shown inaccurate from somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/18 "2002-05-28T03:40:49Z")
Good points. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/19 "2002-05-28T03:56:55Z")
Oops, that last post was made by me. I forgot to log out my wife and log in as me. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014/20 "2002-05-28T03:56:55Z")
Oops, that last post was made by me. I forgot to log out my wife and log in as me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-borg-question/111014.md?page=2)