Just how quickly can Borg nanoprobes create / convert machinery?

[at Quark's]

In Regeneration (Enterprise) we see a Borg drone inject Starfleet circuitry with his nanoprobes and instantly (well, in a second or two), everything changes to Borg circuitry. See this fragment of an enterprise clip I found on youtube

This has always struck me as odd. Not necessarily that the Borg can do this, but that this process would work so quickly. I would expect that even nanoprobes would require some time to assemble macroscopic circuitry and interfaces. This seems just like magic. I know, I know 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' (like, say, the Q) but I don't think the Borg should be that advanced. It becomes weirder still when you stop to think that the drone himself hasn't even been fully converted himself. He's still in the early stages of assimilation.

Or am I misinterpreting this scene and is something else happening here? Any thoughts?

 

[Kirby]

This is clearly an example of the technology moving at the speed of plot.

 

[Farscape One]

We should remember that those nanoprobes are from the future. At the very least, the assimilated person was injected with nanoprobes from over 200 years later. It's probably much easier for them to assimilate technology that out of date. Whether it would happen that quickly to 24th century ships is another question, though.

 

[NCC-73515]

They borgified much of deck 16 very quickly in FC

 

[Farscape One]

True, but there were a LOT more of them.

 

[Vger23]

Very fast. Sometimes faster.

 

[Qonundrum]

In Regeneration (Enterprise) we see a Borg drone inject Starfleet circuitry with his nanoprobes and instantly (well, in a second or two), everything changes to Borg circuitry. See this fragment of an enterprise clip I found on youtube

This has always struck me as odd. Not necessarily that the Borg can do this, but that this process would work so quickly. I would expect that even nanoprobes would require some time to assemble macroscopic circuitry and interfaces. This seems just like magic. I know, I know 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic' (like, say, the Q) but I don't think the Borg should be that advanced. It becomes weirder still when you stop to think that the drone himself hasn't even been fully converted himself. He's still in the early stages of assimilation.

Or am I misinterpreting this scene and is something else happening here? Any thoughts?

"'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'" is just a throwaway line to justify magic wand waving to blur sci-fi into more generic fantasy... and is sometimes used to compensate for poor plotting too. (Even the best stories (as one perceives them) will sometimes take little shortcuts...)

ENT trying to eke more out of the Borg, after VOY already went down that path, and we're all supposed to act like they're new and never assimilated anyone. Much less convert technology, which they didn't do in "Q WHO" so there's another continuity gaffe and a big enough one at that. (Prequel aside, how many people really watched the franchise starting with ENT then TOS, movies, TNG, etc? )

Nanoscopic robots capable of changing circuit paths created on a 3nm lithographic silicon processor is something TNG suggests is possible (e.g. "Evolution" and its nanoprobes imply at the episode's end that rebuilding can take place and arguably too quickly but it's the end of the episode so why not...) In real life, could robots that small to do such a thing be possible and without destroying the circuit in the process? (which of the little fritters is first to turn off the +1.0V supply line and gets fried in the process?) So, yup, time would be needed to do all the work - there might be a momentary blip, depending on how fast the nanobots are compared to the main ship systems - which would have to be considerable...

Yes, TNG uses isolinear chips and other "futuretech" seem to replace silicon for all things microchip. ("Positronics" is, however, positively bull... but nothing's perfect... yet we all accept Data, Lore, B4, his mommy, and the rest of the Bionic Bunch there... of course, I accept light sabers too even though they violate the laws of physics even worse than Dark Helmet's big green Schwartz had...

Spoiler: May the Schwartz Be With You (even with Jan!)

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Of course, anyone can believe a TARDIS until they describe components as "gravitic anomalizer" and "vinkelgruber" out of boredom too... maybe the issue is more of suspension of disbelief, among other things...)

But, by ENT, it was just a sweeps week extravaganza.


On edit: Typo of "crated" replaced with more appropriate "created"

 

[Dryson]

I found this article about Borg assimilation.

I have a book that discusses the Borg assimilating a planet by chunking it, found it. Vendetta is the title.

If the Borg came to Earth today, with just 200 drones we can assume they will effectively take control of the planet within a month.


First we must assume the fact that the Borg are actually assimilating the planet, and that they have already been able to deal with the planetary/space level defenses. With that out of the way it's down to a ground war/assimilation.


If 200 drones infect just 1 person each a day, then give 1 day for infected people to convert to Borg, also figure no losses at just 1 person per each drone, in 29 days they will have infected 6.7 billion people. Obviously there will be some resistance, but there will most likely also be a planet scale assimilating cube, meaning thousands of drones, as well as orbital bombardments, etc.


Within a month I would say 99% of the human population would be converted, or dead. This rapid assimilation would be similar on all planets in which the planet's population was unable to stop the cube class vessels from reaching their respective planets. There are examples from the series where we see the Borg are actively assimilating civilizations. The collective bring many cubes, with 100's of thousands of drones.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/que...t-take-for-a-borg-ship-to-assimilate-a-planet

Personally, I think the estimates in the article are a little 'slow' for Borg standards. I think the Borg could assimilate an entire planet, not cutting the planet apart and tractoring the chunks to the cube, in around 20 days.Chunking a planet doesn't involve assimilating the people either. A ship like Voyager could be assimilated in less than five hours, a ship the size of the Enterprise E in around eight to ten hours and a Starbase, around two days.

Other factors involving the Borg assimilating people is dependent on how well they are able to hide themselves. If a planet has caves deep underground that could avoid the deep penetrating sensors of a Borg cube, then perhaps many people might survive a Borg assimilation. Borg are known for carving up large swathes of land that has industrialized facilities. I haven't read in any books where the Borg cut a pipe line running a thousand miles between two cities out of the ground just to get the oil or gas or whatever the pipe line might be transferring.

Also, if the people don't interact with the Borg in an aggressive manner, such as bashing one over the head with a ball bat or shovel to the face cavity, I think the Borg would simply leave the people alone and focus on the technology.

I will have to reread Vendetta again for more clarity, but from memory the Borg seemed to need to assimilate everyone on the planet, possibly due to the Borg war with Species 8472.

What would be even cooler is if someone created a 3D inactive model of a how a Borg assimilates a living person.

Off the wall question. Do Borg every assimilate cattle or sheep or any other type of animals that are not humanoid in design?