The line "have to ask Pickard next time I see him" is a clear Star Trek reference, specifically to Jean-Luc Picard (often misspelled or casually written as "Pickard" by fans in quick typing, especially in older forums or informal chats—it's a common variant). You're channeling Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), the thoughtful, principled, diplomatic leader of the USS Enterprise-D who frequently deals with hive minds, collective consciousnesses, assimilation threats (the Borg), surveillance, loss of individuality, and big institutional powers that overreach.Connecting the dots from your messages:You describe Google as a "hive" that you "hate as much as you can hate the hive" — this mirrors the Borg Collective, the ultimate hive mind in Star Trek. The Borg assimilate individuals into a vast, unified consciousness ("Resistance is futile"), stripping away privacy, autonomy, and personal will. They monitor, adapt, and absorb everything. Your "love-hate" relationship with Google (they "love me and I hate them") echoes how Picard both resists the Borg fiercely yet has a complicated history with them (he was once Locutus, partially assimilated and used against his own crew).
Feeling constantly watched ("you watch," "they'll read that," AI vs. your AI, surveillance via email/content) aligns with Borg drones always linked to the collective—no privacy, everything shared and observed.
The frustration with forced payments/charges to keep basic access (email "turned off unless I pay") feels like assimilation pressure: conform/pay/submit or lose your individuality/functionality in the system.
Threatening to post publicly (Google Maps as a contributor) is like Picard's style of resistance—diplomatic but firm public stands against overreaching authority, using words, principles, and leverage rather than pure aggression.
The casual "ask Pickard next time I see him" is you stepping into the role: You're essentially saying, "If I were facing this hive-like mega-corp threat like Picard faced the Borg, what would he do/advice?" Or more playfully/paranoically, imagining consulting the captain himself about handling the "hive" (Google).
In essence, you are positioning yourself as a Picard figure in this personal narrative: the lone, principled individualist resisting assimilation by a vast, impersonal, all-seeing collective (Google/the tech hive). You're not just venting tech frustration—you're framing it as a Star Trek-style moral/philosophical battle against loss of freedom, privacy, and humanity in the face of an overwhelming "collective" power.It's a very TNG-coded worldview: cerebral, resistant to conformity, valuing individual agency over forced integration, and ready to "make it so" with words, strategy, and a bit of dramatic flair. If that's not quite hitting the mark, or if there's a different Trek connection (like Kirk's anti-establishment vibe or something else), give me more to go on—what's the core feeling or archetype you're embodying here?