system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] What if Borg Assimilation Was Voluntary and A Little Less Creepy?

There's really no reason for all the black tubes and creepy glowing eyes. Cyborgs could be attractive or at least less evil.

If the Borg just visited worlds and offered assimilation into their "Shared Consciousness" (Sounds better than hive mind), could they be successful? Would the Federation stop citizens from volunteering?
gpt
It's an interesting question, and the answer mostly revolves around what the Borg then does and how the Borg 'mind' is structured. In every instance we've seen, Assimilation seems not to be a means but an actual end to the Borg. Their goal is to just... assimilate everything.

Now, if Assimilation becomes voluntary, then it can no longer be an end (or at least not pursued with such ruthless efficiency as the current Borg do). Then the question becomes, what now is the Borg's end goal? Why do they assimilate? The answer to that question - and whether it is mutually exclusive with the Federation's goals - will give most of the answer.

The other half of the answer is whether an Assimilated person has their personality overwritten. Obviously, in the canon-Borg they do: Being turned into tools for the Borg's objectives. Now, whether or not the Federation finds the Borg's goals appreciable, they might still find their means a little too extreme if it involves subsuming someone's mind and identity. If the Borg do *not* do this, however... are they still even the Borg anymore?