The reason that I ask the question is that there appear to be similarities in the civilizations of the two planets. And there is one major difference-the Betans didn't have space travel.

There was that Lisa Loeb song "Pulling Taffy" that just seemed to make the word more confusing.

I'm gathering if you can 'pull taffy' - and that it's a sweet confectionery... that it must be something like either, fairy-floss, 'toffee', or even like the 'candy' that is the hard sweet lollies that are those 'old fashioned' hard-boiled lollies... usually multi-coloured.

Here is a recipe.

I always envisioned the original Borg race as being isolated from the rest of the galaxy as well. Instead of making contact with other species (or even being aware of their existence), they ended up becoming slaves to their own technology to the point where they couldn't exist without it. Very similar to the Cybermen of Doctor Who, the technology became a part of them, and as other forms of flora & fauna life died out on their world, they "adapted" to life without it. But since you can only go on like this for so long on your own planet, they realized the need for expansion into space. And coincidentally, instead of having to rely on their own technology, they now had to survive by assimilating someone else's.