Human-Borg dynamics during a cybernetic alien invasion
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Computational Biology, Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems, Scientific Computing and Simulation
- Keywords
- Epidemiology, The Borg, Action-mass model, Alien invasion, SCARED
- Copyright
- © 2017 Pabico
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2017. Human-Borg dynamics during a cybernetic alien invasion. PeerJ Preprints 5:e3198v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.3198v1
Abstract
We propose a series of ODE systems to model the various dynamics of human-Borg interaction during a Borg invasion. These models, progressively developed one after the other, could provide humanity and other peace-loving intergalactic species the necessary mathematical tools to develop survival strategies in the event of future alien invasion. The Borg is a race of technologically-advanced cybernetic aliens and acts as a very powerful antagonist against the peace-loving human species in various Star Trek sci-fi story lines. Cybernetics, also called cyborgs, are organic individuals implanted with intelligent electromechanical devices for the purpose of increasing the individuals' efficiency by several degrees (e.g., strength, speed, and intelligence) but in the expense of procreation. Thus, the "parasitic" Borg needs to assimilate other species in an epidemiological manner for the survival of their own race.
In these models, humans can be transformed into one of six types depending on their reaction on or resistance to Borg assimilation. These are Susceptible (\(S\)), Captured (\(C\)), Assimilated (\(A\)), Rescued (\(R\)), Educated (or Rehabilitated, \(E\)), and Defiant (\(D\)). {\em Susceptible} humans can be captured and then assimilated into being a Borg drone. The remaining humans can rescue those who were captured or assimilated. Once rescued, they will undergo rehabilitation after which they either end up (again) susceptible to or strongly defiant from being captured and assimilated.
We start by describing the SCA model which has the same (analytical and/or numerical) solution to the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected model in epidemiology. Then we move on to the SCAR model which incorporates the tendency of humans to fight back by rescuing the captured or assimilated. SCARE further models the propensity of humans to educate (or rehabilitate) those whom they have rescued. Finally, we present the SCARED model which describes the natural inclinations of humans to either "relapse" to being susceptible to or grow being defiant against assimilation after undergoing rehabilitation. The numerical solutions to all these models will be presented using a popular yet simple computer software.
The SCA, SCAR, and SCARE models are reduction from the SCARED model when all the respective coefficients of the quantities not present in the reduced model are zero. In other words, SCA reduces from SCAR; SCA and SCAR both reduce from SCARE; and SCA, SCAR, and SCARE all reduce from SCARED. The bottomline is SCA \(\subset\) SCAR \(\subset\) SCARE \(\subset\) SCARED. The dynamics in the general SCARED model is governed by the system of ODEs shown (as a teaser) in the attached addendum.
Author Comment
Submitted as a contributed abstract to the 2017 Mathematical Society of the Philippines CALABARZON Annual Regional Convention to be held at the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities (FAITH), Tanauan City, Batangas, Philippines on 23 September 2017. The corresponding paper presents four mass-action-type epidemiological models that were progressively developed to describe the interaction dynamics between humans and the Star Trek antagonist The Borg. The human-Borg dynamics is an important metaphor to some real-world problems of epidemiological importance.