39,327
edits
Terminally Dependent Society: Difference between revisions
m
update links
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (removed redundant examples parameter) |
m (update links) |
||
Line 4:
Then it breaks down. Or disappears. Or becomes sentient and decides to [[Kill All Humans]], [[Deus Est Machina|play games]] [[The Computer Is Your Friend|with them]], or worse, [[My Beloved Smother|smother them with love]]. Or it [[Assimilation Plot|absorbs all lifeforms into itself]] and [[A God Am I|becomes a God.]] And everyone who depended on it is now doomed. The technology that was used before the machine was invented has long since been forgotten, or the dying life source makes the citizens magically ill, or it's simply grown too strong and humanity has become too weak to fight back. This is especially common when the Phlebotinum is [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]].
Being doomed isn't always a bad thing, though. Maybe the society simply [[Ascends to A Higher Plane of Existence]], or discover [[The End of the World as We Know It]] means their world has simply ''changed'', not ended. They can survive just fine by giving up the [[Immature Hedonist|wanton hedonism]] of their old existence. Of course, it may turn into an [[Inferred Holocaust]] if no one knows how to plow a field. Or maybe the good guys can use the energy source to conquer all the bad guys who depend on it.
Fantasy and Scifi like to use the Terminally Dependent Society in conjunction with a [[Fantastic Aesop]] about the dangers in abusing [[Aesoptinum]]. This is often paired by having it created by [[For Science!|foolishly enthusiastic scientist]], you can expect [[Reed Richards Is Useless|its noxious properties to manifest quickly]]. Interestingly, a [[Mad Scientist]] who designs a dependence causing device [[Stock Evil Overlord Tactics|in order to take over the world]] will have it break down/addict him/escape his control as [[Hoist by His Own Petard|punishment]] for his [[Pride]].
In sci-fi, it's almost always a metaphor for the internet. In fantasy, it's generally a metaphor for limited fossil fuel. Generally, these aesops lead to [[No Blood for Phlebotinum]]. Expect two or three characters to escape and become the new [[Adam and Eve Plot|Adam and Eve.]] Mind the inbreeding.
A lot of sci-fi stories predicted the internet, and many of them describe a society completely depending on it. One of the earliest is from 1909<ref>linked in the literature examples below</ref>. There's probably earlier ones out there, but in any case this trope is [[Older Than Radio]].
Line 23:
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* The glowy Eywa tree in ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' stores memories and coordinates the global ecosystem, it was ''almost'' destroyed until the self defense function was triggered.
** Similarly, the Unobtainium was vital to the humans. While not strictly crucial for survival, it was important for interstellar travel to mitigate the overcrowded, overindustrialized homeworld. The only use for Unobtainium shown in the film was to get to Pandora... to get ''more'' Unobtainium. No talk of colonization.
* ''[[The City of Ember]]'' with its hydroelectric generator.
Line 56:
* The final pages of ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Return Of The King]]'' reveal that {{spoiler|Elrond}} wore one of the three elven Rings of Power, and {{spoiler|Galadriel}} is revealed to have another in ''The Fellowship Of The Ring''. It's strongly implied that these Rings were the only real protection for Rivendell and Lothlorien, meaning that whether Sauron reclaims the One Ring and tries to dominate their bearers, ''or'' whether the One is destroyed and all other Rings left weakened, then these elven havens would be left vulnerable: they'd have to be abandoned, even if the elves weren't already leaving Middle-Earth.
* The Lindauzi of Warren Rochelle's ''[[The Wild Boy]]''. They were regressing to a wild state without the Iani to bond with.
* The L’Dira in [[Star Trek Deep Space Nine
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' The Colonials are reduced to 50,000 survivors after the events of the miniseries. The society that forms with the surviving humans living aboard the handful of FTL capable ships that survived the genocide fall into this trope in three ways:
** 1) Without the FTL technology, they would have been wiped out by the Cylons in short order.
** 2) The technology for spaceflight; since the 12 Colonies are now radioactive wastelands and the only habitable worlds they find also get found by the Cylons shortly thereafter, without their ships the Colonials would not survive.
** 3) The Battlestar Galactica itself; from the water filtration system that according to Commander Adama doesn't waste so much as a drop of water while cleaning a ship's supply of water to the ship's DRADIS that allows early warning of Cylon attacks or it's squadrons of Vipers and it's powerful weapon systems or the simple fact that none of the surviving civilian leaders are smart enough to keep the fleet together without Adama. This is proven early in Season 2 when the fleet is divided and the civilian fleet that left Galactica is prone to suicidal plans as dictated by their civilian leaders.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' has a fondness for this trope in its various series.
** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "[[Star Trek/Recap/S3
** TOS adored this trope, especially combined with [[Master Computer]]. Cue the James T. Kirk patented [[Logic Bomb]]!
** ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' had a society dependent on cloning run into [[Clone Degeneration]]. They were forced to do it the old fashioned way with a neighboring society of Luddites.
Line 73:
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "Revisions", the computer was sending people to their deaths one by one as the power available fell below the levels required to support the population. It also altered their memories to make sure no one knew what was going on. Also interesting because the computer tricked the population into thinking they couldn't live without being constantly connected to it through an internet-like link, making everyone think they were even more dependent on it than they really were.
** The Goa'uld are completely dependent on their queens to reproduce. Similarly the Jaffa are, for most of the early seasons, dependent on juvenile Goa'uld inside them.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S18
* The 2007 ''[[Flash Gordon (TV series)|Flash Gordon]]'' TV series featured Mongo as a [[Hydraulic Empire]] controlled by Ming, who had The Source, the only supply of drinkable water on the entire planet (except for the polar caps, which he controlled through a usurper in the polar regional government).
** And that Source appears to be slowly running out. Which is why he's trying to develop interdimentional travel to {{spoiler|steal Earth's water}}.
Line 85:
== Videogames ==
* The plasmids from ''[[
* The Iifa Tree and the Mist from ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' are a mild example, because the heroes find an alternative energy source.
* To a certain extent, the Lifestream from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''.
| |||