A hive mind is the collective sharing of minds into a single consciousness, serving and driving the goals of its entire population, as was the case for the Borg. As such, individuality was sacrificed for the whole, and its members/resources were assigned tasks according to best achieve those goals. The Borg Queen was known to manipulate the Collective by altering its commands at will, even though no single control center was clearly evidenced. Borg drones are connected to the hive mind through neural transceivers. (VOY: "Unity")
Something similar to the Borg hive mind is the body, on the planet Beta III in the C-111 system. (TOS: "Return of the Archons")
Encounters with the Enterprise-D
The Enterprise-D was one of the first Starfleet vessels to deal with the Borg hive mind, in 2366. Once Captain Picard was connected to the hive mind, and re-designated as Locutus of Borg, it was the job of Doctor Crusher, Chief O'Brien and Commander Data to attempt to remove him from the Collective, which was successful. (TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds")
Hugh, in 2368
In 2368, the Enterprise-D rescued a stranded Borg, Third of Five, who was later affectionately renamed by Geordi La Forge as Hugh. Hugh's connection with the hive mind had been terminated through his injuries, and his individuality started to re-emerge. However, he realized the threat his being on the Enterprise posed to his new friends, so he agreed to re-join the Collective. (TNG: "I, Borg")
This individuality proved to be damaging for the Borg, and several drones broke off from the hive mind after having communicated with Hugh. Without the Collective consciousness, they were just as deadly, and even acted with aggression and cruelty towards others. They were found by Lore in 2369, who willingly designated himself as their leader. (TNG: "Descent")
- See also: Crosis
Encounters with the USS Voyager
In 2375, the ex-Borg Seven of Nine attempted to explain the hive mind to the advanced Borg, known as One. Seven told him that individuals who were assimilated lost their individuality, their minds would be integrated into the hive mind and their bodies would be augmented with cybernetic implants. One told her he desired to experience the hive mind. VOY: "Drone"
In the same year, the Borg's hive mind was almost thrown into chaos when Species 6339 almost succeeded in infecting a large quantity of Borg vessels with a synthetic pathogen targeted at the ship's vinculum. (VOY: "Infinite Regress")
In 2376, three ex-Borg drones made contact with Seven of Nine. These three, it was discovered, were, along with Seven, disconnected from the hive mind in 2368, when their Borg vessel crash-landed on Planet 1865-Alpha. During the short time that these Borg were disconnected from the collective, their individualities began to resurface and they began to act erratically. Seven decided to reconnect all three of the group together into one separate collective. Once they'd been rescued, they were all re-connected to the collective, however, when the three eventually escaped the collective, their neural link remained active between them. (VOY: "Survival Instinct")
In the same year, it was discovered by the crew of the USS Voyager that certain humanoid species have a mutation in a part of their brain that, when they regenerate, blocks their link with the hive mind and allows their minds to enter a "dream-like" realm, known as Unimatrix Zero. (VOY: "Unimatrix Zero, Part I")
Background and Theories on the hive mind
- There has been much speculation regarding the form and function of the hive mind, due in no small part to the limited ability of an individual consciousness to grasp a concept totally outside its own conception of self. However, to some extent the maxim that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" may offer good guidance. That is, a hive mind is not likely to consist of simply a large number of individual minds grouped together. Instead the hive mind exists on an altogether different level of consciousness wherein the very notion of individuality is as alien to the hive mind as the hive mind itself is to an individual consciousness.
- In this sense the Borg notion that the Collective has "evolved" beyond Humanity and other individually-oriented species may be literally true, though evolved should not be read as a higher or better state, just different in nature. Under this notion of a hive mind, the further addition or assimilation of individuals continually exposes the hive mind to new frontiers. The acquisition of this knowledge would eventually lead to the Borg hive mind encompassing all that is known by the individual, while simultaneously existing on a plane beyond the individual. In so much as that state is possible, the Borg would be closer to the "perfection" they seek because the hive mind would then contain first-hand experience of both the hive and individual mind and not be limited to either one.