system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] Why exactly did the Borg piss arse about so much trying to assimilate Earth?

Several times the Bord decided it was worth their time to attempt to assimilate Earth. And they send one solitary cube? They know full well at this point that yes while a Borg ship is a formidable force against most federation ships and even fleets but also that the federation are dangerous.

&#x200B;

Dangerous enough to feel the need to assimilate them. What possible reason other than having the slightest hope of letting the federation win (which is the doyalist answer imo) would the borg have to only send one cube? 

&#x200B;

We know they have cubes for days, so why not send 2 or 3 or fuck it 10? If they borg had just sent 2 cubes they would have basically walked up to earth and assimilated them almost without incident.
gpt
A predominate theory is that the Borg aren't really trying. They don't necessarily want to assimilate the Federation, they make half-heated attempts to in an effort to fatten the Federation up.

The Borg has enough resources to take out any native species (except, possibly, the Founders, and a singular example in Species 116). Yet that would actually be counter-productive. The Borg are interested in *adding* biological and technological distinctiveness to their own, which is defeated if they simply obliterate a nascent civilization before it has developed any biological or technological distinctiveness to begin with!

So if the Borg send a fleet of ships to... anywhere, there is a single outcome: the species is conquered. But that doesn't really tell us anything about the species and what they are capable of.

Send a single cube and you get three possible, informative answers:

The cube takes out the whole civilization - meaning they were probably too underdeveloped to be of interest anyway.

The cube is handily defeated - an advanced society that merits more direct attention.

The cube is barely defeated - a technology that is on its way to become worthy of more direct attention.

The Federation fell into the latter category.

Prior to Wolf-359, the bulk of the Federation Fleet were transport, medical, survey, and scientific vessels. Post Wolf-359 you get Defiant, (and later) Akira, Saber, Sovereign, and Steamrunner class ships. Ships that aren't just scientific vessels with lots of weapons, but actual warships.

This wasn't just about technological advancements, but a cultural shift from the Federation's "we're explorers" mindset.

You know one way of getting the most out of your hot peppers? You inflict damage on the plant. It produces more chemicals designed for its protection which leads to spicier flavor. You get more bang for your buck.

So basically the Borg are poking at the Federation, forcing a defensive response to encourage them to develop more advanced technology that they'll be interested in assimilating later down the road.