• AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    The Bynar are very tied in like the borg but it is all willing and for the most part they retain individuality at least down to the couples level.

    Only reason the Borge are hated is the forced joining that removes individuality. The federation likely has no issue with the whole cyborg part.

    • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      I would argue the bynars are not doing it voluntarily either though. According to phlox in ENT, right after birth a surgeon removes a certain part of the newborn‘s brain, replacing and connecting it with their central computer.

      And I would argue a literal newborn cannot give consent to this. The only difference to the Borg appears to be the larger degree of individuality, though that seems questionable too, considering how interlinked they are in the TNG episode.

        • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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          1 year ago

          True, i suppose the fact they only enhance their own species helps as well in making them palatable to the federation species.

        • HardlightCereal@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Prime directive. The Federation can apply such ideals to their own citizens and to foreigners who ask for help, but not to foreign citizens who don’t ask. The Borg try to assimilate Federation citizens, so the Federation has a valid cassus belli for war. The Bynars aren’t attacking any other species, so the prime directive doesn’t apply.

    • Norah - She/They@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Generally even ex-Borg, like Seven of Nine, aren’t disliked or mistrusted because of their remaining cybernetic implants. It’s almost always about their connection too, and implied complicity in, horrors and genocide.