It falls under the umbrella of why transhumanism (or transklingonism, or whatever you like… transbeingism?) is so rare in Star Trek. None of the major powers have fully embraced cybernetic or genetic augmentation. Why?
Earth has the Eugenics Wars which is used to explain how leery they are of genetic augmentation, and it could also explain their conservative attitude towards cybernetics. The encounter with the Borg would just reinforce this pre-existing attitude. But the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians? Why haven’t any of them fully embraced either genetic or mechanical augmentation?
The theory is that, in the Star Trek universe, “natural” evolution is the only stable way for species to advance. The augments led to the Eugenics Wars, and you’ve also got the Bynars who went full cybernetic and nearly had their civilization collapse due to one bad solar flare. The changelings, the Douwd, and the Q, on the other hand, seem to have evolved to their extraordinary powers taking the long route. The Borg are the ultimate example of the dangers of advancing too quickly; they became a cancer species so aggressive that every other sentient species cannot help but ally against them and seek their destruction.
If augmentation were a viable means of advancement in Star Trek you would expect to see more examples of it in the galactic community, but you don’t, so there must be a very good reason why it isn’t.
I have a theory about this!
It falls under the umbrella of why transhumanism (or transklingonism, or whatever you like… transbeingism?) is so rare in Star Trek. None of the major powers have fully embraced cybernetic or genetic augmentation. Why?
Earth has the Eugenics Wars which is used to explain how leery they are of genetic augmentation, and it could also explain their conservative attitude towards cybernetics. The encounter with the Borg would just reinforce this pre-existing attitude. But the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians? Why haven’t any of them fully embraced either genetic or mechanical augmentation?
The theory is that, in the Star Trek universe, “natural” evolution is the only stable way for species to advance. The augments led to the Eugenics Wars, and you’ve also got the Bynars who went full cybernetic and nearly had their civilization collapse due to one bad solar flare. The changelings, the Douwd, and the Q, on the other hand, seem to have evolved to their extraordinary powers taking the long route. The Borg are the ultimate example of the dangers of advancing too quickly; they became a cancer species so aggressive that every other sentient species cannot help but ally against them and seek their destruction.
If augmentation were a viable means of advancement in Star Trek you would expect to see more examples of it in the galactic community, but you don’t, so there must be a very good reason why it isn’t.