Borg & Time Travel

[Robbert Raets]

If the Borg have used time travel to assimilate other planets in the past, would Starfleet be allowed (or possibly forced) to change that back under the Temporal Prime directive?

[ghosty]

If the Borg are using time travel to change the past then there is no real restriction to Starfleet intervening. The Temporal Prime Directive prohibits interfering with the past so if the Borg did so, Starfleet has to stop them according to the strictures of the Temporarl Prime Directive hence Picard and co. had no qualms about taking out the Borg in First Contact.

[Robbert Raets]

Even if the 'alternate' timeline was created years ago?
And what if future Borg come back in time to assimilate a planet protected by the Prime Directive?

[Dan Gurden]

Well, I have a slightly differing opinion.

As usual...

I am sure that the strict letter of the law prohibits any intervention. But I am equally sure that each case will be dealt with by the Captains in the field on a case by case basis. After all, with the Borg going back in time. I also imagine that in the case of the Borg, that the DTI would be far more lenient about the few survivors should they manage to get back into the present... If the present remains there to go back too...

With your scenario of the Borg having gone back years before, I dont think the Temporal Prime Directive counts, as their unchecked expansion is likely to have changed the universe beyond all recognition... That was after all the whole point of the Borg tactics in First Contact.

This would mean that your crew isn't there, or that they are a far smaller rag-tag fleet running and hiding from the massive borg fleet... Probably with no home-worlds and centuries outdated tech...

Its a dangerous concept and one that really requires an escape clause if things go wrong...

[Commodore 2]

Of course, you could also involve the individual known only as the "Doctor" lol

[Anarchy Bob]

The Borg could have gone back in time years ago, resulting in massive changes that wouldn't affect the Federation.

The dilemna happens in the following scenario:

Federation scientists figure out that Borg domination of the Delta Quadrant is the direct result of Borg interference in the time stream.

Since it happened years ago, there is no convenient space phenomena to jump into and try to correct.

Nah, you got to _consciously_ use your own Temporal technology.

And there seems to be no consequences to doing do. You save lives in the Federation AND the Delta Quadrant.

Oh yeah, one saved child might grow up to be a tyrant. How is that worst than the Borg?

That's the stuff intense roleplaying is made out of

[Perrryyy]

Originally posted by Robbert Raets
If the Borg have used time travel to assimilate other planets in the past, would Starfleet be allowed (or possibly forced) to change that back under the Temporal Prime directive?

What if they went back and assimilated the founding planets before there even was a Starfleet? There'd be no TPD to adhere to so they'd have free reign Except they wouldn't exist! (or woould they?)

DOH!

[Robert Lai]

The problem with Borg/Time Travel scenarios is the underlying moral/philosophical dilemma, i.e., do we have the right to go back and mess with the timeline?

Stopping the Borg is all well and good, but you are still determining another society's outcome. True, they're losing cultural distinctiveness and freedom of choice in being assimilated, but this is no different than a culture suffering under the rule of a dictatorship or religious oligarchy. (You could argue that with a dictatorship, there is a chance of change, while there is none for an assimilated society.)

Picard and crew justified their action in First Contact as they were there at the moment of the change. It is *possible* that an observer at a distance might not notice a thing, as with LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven -- where only the dreamer and those standing beside him were cognizant of the change. And ultimately, in a series of events intended to 'make things better' -- the world is changed irrevocably, and the characters never get back to where they started.

For the Borg, time travel - even if you acquired the technology - is probably not an efficient method of assimilation, and was used in First Contact only because humans have proven to be so stubborn.

Lastly, a 'correct' timeline can never truly be determined, as time is infinite. You cannot judge the value of an event while you are inside that same event - the observations are not objective enough. The timeline is replete with opportunities for the Law of Unintended Consequences to nip you in the rear.

Don't get me wrong, I like time travel just fine. I don't like Voyager's particular spin on it.

Bob

[ghosty]

The truth is the Temporal Prime Directive just gives me a headache...as can be seen in this thread, there are just far too many permutations that there can be no hard and fast rule about "meddling" with time.

IMHO, the best solution is that the Temporal Prime Directive boils down to this simple phrase, "First do no harm." If the Borg "harm" the time stream, then Starfleet can and will intervene.