History Main / TerminallyDependentSociety

* ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' starts with the main character being sent out of the Vault to find a new water chip, without which the Vault will run out of clean water. The people behind the Vault project realized how dependent their populations would be on the Vaults' equipment, it's just that in [[ThirteenIsUnlucky Vault 13]]'s case a shipping error left them with no spare water chips. And that's not even touching on how things were worse in the Vaults [[SecretTestOfCharacter that were secretly designed as social experiments]]. One we set up so its equipment would regularly fail, as a stress-test for possible space travel. Even more so for Vault 112, where the residents have been imprisoned in a LotusEaterMachine simulation for 200 years and are incapable of survival outside of it.
** The entire setting of ''Fallout'' revolves around this trope; it's actually set in an AlternateUniverse where the microtransistor wasn't invented until the 21st century. As a result, post-World War II it entered an Atomic Age rather than an Electric Age, with inefficient technology centered around vacuum tubes and computers taking up entire rooms. As a result, this world depleted it's petroleum much faster than the real world, leading to oil wars and social collapse by the mid-2050's. By the time the Great War broke out in 2077, the only known oil deposits left on Earth were in Alaska, with even the Middle East oil fields having been tapped out.

* In the Aligned continuity, Cybertronians are dependent on Energon. Granted, there is essentially oceans of the stuff, right up until Megatron corrupted the Core of Cybertron and it eventually had to be shut down. ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' deals with the aftermath of this. There is a synthetic version, but the formula for it was sent off into space to prevent Megatron from getting hold of it.

Fantasy and Scifi like to use the Terminally Dependent Society in conjunction with a FantasticAesop about the dangers in abusing {{Aesoptinum}}. This is often paired by having it created by [[ForScience foolishly enthusiastic scientist]], you can expect [[ReedRichardsIsUseless its noxious properties to manifest quickly]]. Interestingly, a MadScientist who designs a dependence causing device [[StockEvilOverlordTactics in order to take over the world]] will have it break down/addict him/escape his control as [[HoistByHisOwnPetard punishment]] for his {{pride}}.

** A surprisingly realistic version, considering all the magic. Equestria was dependent on coal for most of their industry, but Equestria doesn't have any coal deposits, so they had to trade with the zebras. When relations broke down with the zebras, the supply of coal was cut off, and a massive war started. Littlepip lampshades that building your nation on the back of something you don't even ''have'' is incredibly stupid.
** The zebras, on the other hand, needed gems for their {{Magitek}} but gem deposits were extremely rare in their homeland, so they had to trade with Equestria. Worse, unlike the ponies (who had unicorns who could cast spells), they had no ability to cast spells at all without {{Magitek}}. They had magic potions that could do some pretty incredible things, but they were impractical for wide-scale industrialization.

* The humans in ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' depend on their ship for all sustenance. The fact that [[spoiler:Earth has actually returned to a moderately habitable state]] does not change the fact that [[spoiler:everyone, including the ship itself, believes]] the humans cannot live anywhere except on board the ''Axiom''. A new credit sequence was added when the makers found out test screenings agreed with this.

** The glowy Eywa tree 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.

** In a less physical sense, even people in-universe have noticed that the Imperium of Man is dependent on ''war''. Most of its interactions with its member planets revolve around tithes of materiel and manpower for its conflicts, and the draconian measures the Imperium uses to stay in power can only be justified by the number of threats surrounding it. If peace ever broke out, nobody sane would want to live under such a regime -- and even in the current state of affairs, world after world chooses to rebel and try to survive on their own rather than endure further Imperial oppression (and are either violently brought back into the fold, conquered by Chaos, or eaten by 'nids).
** Forge Worlds, as the name suggests, are {{Eternal Engine}}s scaled up to the size of a planet, churning out the vast quantities of vehicles, weapons and equipment needed by the Imperium, with little to no space for growing food. ''[[Literature/CiaphasCain The Greater Good]]'' has one whose location allows it to forgo self-reliance in favor of more production: Guard regiments are alays stopping there to resupply and take care of defense, while food is imported, rationed, and not stored for maximum efficiency, resulting in riots when the approaching Tyranids scare off the deliveries.

* The plasmids from ''VideoGame/BioShock'' were used by everyone, and they turn out to naturally hover between being [[SuperSerum Super]] and PsychoSerum (depending on which you took and if you abused them). Then a civil war breaks out and Ryan had them laced with mind control agents, tipping the balance firmly toward "Psycho". This terminally dependent society OD'd.

* The world in ''VideoGame/MagnaCarta2'' has unnaturally high levels of ambient magic, thanks to the Hero of Legend. It is specifically noted that with so much magic around, nobody has had to farm for food for at least a thousand years. The heros end up having to bring the levels back to normal and force society to labor for sustenance for the first time in generations, as it turns out that [[spoiler:the high magic levels are maintained via world wars and human sacrifice of a specific soldier every 250 years or so]].

** Franchise/StarWarsLegends and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' reveals that the same happens to the Selkath race introduced in-game. They were natives of the planet Manaan, which was the only place in the galaxy that produced kolto for [[HealingVat healing vats]], making them a galactic superpower and able to maintain their neutrality during the Jedi CivilWar. However after the invention of the more potent alternative bacta, the Selkath were essentially discarded by the galaxy at large and their petition to join TheRepublic was ignored. Over time their civilization collapsed and the people reverted into primitive tribes, later being conquered [[KickTheDog and enslaved]] by the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]].

* ''VideoGame/Doom2016'': Samuel Hayden insists that Argent Energy (which is energy harvested from Hell itself) is the singular last power source that can maintain human civilization, as humans have already exhausted every alternative, to the point that even a demonic invasion on Mars doesn't deter him from trying to keep Argent Energy production going. It should be noted that he's not quite ''wrong''; Argent Energy is the original form of Hell Energy, and is both perfectly clean and absolutely unlimited. Unfortunately, the demons have corrupted all sources of Argent Energy, necessitating an expensive refining process unless you are willing to use raw Hell Energy, which is much more dangerous. And then of course there are the demons who are using Hayden's plans to get their own cultists inside his organization in order to ultimately destroy the human race.

* Brazil with coffee and again with rubber, Argentina with beef. Originally incredibly wealthy societies - and in Argentina's case, the wealth was petty well distributed - went bankrupt. In Argentina, because of refrigerated shipments from Australia; in Brazil they actually smuggled rubber tree plants out of the country to start a competing industry in Malaysia.

* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' introduces us to Urdak, a Heavenlike world whose people are even ''more'' terminally dependent upon Argent Energy than humanity, to the point that [[spoiler:the leader of the Maykrs, the Khan Maykr, made a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with Hell]] for it]], which is why [[HellOnEarth Hell is invading Earth]]. And that's before we learn that Argent Energy itself [[spoiler:[[PoweredByAForsakenChild is made from the horribly tortured souls of every human and other being to die to the demons]], and that the soulless husks left over from this process become demons themselves]]. It's little wonder that [[spoiler:Samuel Hayden, who was once the biggest proponent of the energy in the original game, now wants to see it gone forever]].

* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' introduces us to Urdak, a Heavenlike world whose people are even ''more'' terminally dependent upon Argent Energy than humanity, to the point that [[spoiler:the leader of the Maykrs, the Khan Maykr, made a deal with Hell for it]]. And that's before we learn that Argent Energy itself [[spoiler:[[PoweredByAForsakenChild is made from the horribly tortured souls of every human and other being to die to the demons]], and that the soulless husks left over from this process become demons themselves]]. It's little wonder that [[spoiler:Samuel Hayden, who was once the biggest proponent of the energy in the original game, now wants to see it gone forever]].

* Union City in ''VideoGame/BeneathASteelSky'' is completely dependent on the underground LINC computer, and shutting it down would spell disaster.

* OlderThanTelevision: Creator/EMForster's "Literature/TheMachineStops", written 1909: humans in the future depend entirely on The Machine, and almost never leave their rooms anymore. [[spoiler:society collapses when The Machine Stops and no one has any idea how to fix it.]]

* OlderThanTelevision: Creator/EMForster's "Literature/TheMachineStops", written 1909: humans in the future depend entirely on The Machine, and never leave their rooms anymore.

* The [[{{Precursors}} White Robes']] great civilisation in ''VideoGame/{{Journey}}'' was entirely dependent on the red cloth you can find to boost your powers. [[spoiler:When it started to run out, they destroyed themselves in an apocalyptic civil war, leaving only the ruins you see in the game.]]

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'':
** 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) ''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, to the ship's DRADIS that allows early warning of Cylon attacks or its squadrons of Vipers and its 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 leaders of the civilian fleet are prone to suicidal plans.

** Franchise/StarWarsLegends reveals that the same happens to the Selkath race introduced in-game. They were natives of the planet Manaan, which was the only place in the galaxy that produced kolto for [[HealingVat healing vats]], making them a galactic superpower and able to maintain their neutrality during the Jedi CivilWar. However after the invention of the more potent alternative bacta, the Selkath were essentially discarded by the galaxy at large and their petition to join the Republic was ignored. Over time their civilization collapsed and the people reverted into primitive tribes, later being conquered [[KickTheDog and enslaved]] by the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', the Atlanteans and their city are dependent on [[spoiler: the Crystal, which is alive and made up of the spirits of the dead royalty... [[TheLifestream or maybe all dead Atlanteans]] ]]. It gives them vitality and [[Really700YearsOld a ridiculously long lifespan]] through [[spoiler: the crystal shards around their necks]] which stop glowing when the power source is taken away, and Milo explicitly tells [[MoneyDearBoy Rourke]] that they'll die if he doesn't return it. However, no one but the King seemed to know about the [[spoiler:Crystal]]'s influence, though whether they all forgot with time or never knew to begin with wasn't revealed.

Then it breaks down. Or disappears. Or becomes sentient and decides to KillAllHumans, [[DeusEstMachina play games]] [[TheComputerIsYourFriend with them]], or worse, [[MyBelovedSmother smother them with love]]. Or it [[AssimilationPlot absorbs all lifeforms into itself]] and [[AGodAmI 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 PoweredByAForsakenChild.

In sci-fi, these days it's almost always a metaphor for the internet (especially in {{cyberpunk}}); or in older works, for computers in general (which, up until the 80's, it was generally assumed would always remain centralized and few in number). Electrical power and fossil fuels are other good candidates. In fantasy, it's generally a metaphor for limited fossil fuel. Generally, these aesops lead to NoBloodForPhlebotinum. Expect two or three characters to escape and become the new [[AdamAndEvePlot Adam and Eve.]] Mind the inbreeding.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', the monster city uses human screams as their only power source. At the beginning of the movie, the city is in the middle of an energy crisis (and the titular company, which harvests the screams, is in danger of going under) because human children are getting harder to scare.[[spoiler: This is why Waternoose is the BigBad. He's willing to do ''[[WellIntentionedExtremist anything]]'' to keep the company afloat, including kidnapping children to forcibly extract their screams. Fortunately, the energy crisis is solved by the introduction of a new, better energy source- laughter.]]

* In the ''[[Videogame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'', the Commonwealth of Planets relies on a BlackBox PortalNetwork left behind a few million years ago by some precursors for interstellar travel and communications. The gate network has a tendency to shift around from the machinations of the precursors, which screwed over the [[ProudMerchantRace Teladi]] whom got cut off from their homeworld - the only place where males are born - for a few hundred years, resulting in the vast majority of Teladi today being [[OneGenderRace genetically identical females]] as unfertilized eggs are essentially clones. When the gate network shuts down ("The Dark") following the apocalyptic [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar Second Terraformer War]] in ''X3: Albion Prelude'', interstellar civilization ground to an instant stop, with numerous {{One Product Planet}}s starving to death or succumbing to technological decay. The system of [=DeVries=] in ''Videogame/XRebirth'' is one such system which depended heavily on food and technology shipments from the Sol system, resulting in mass famine and [[ScavengerWorld technological decline]], though they have recovered in the thirty years since the shutdown.
* The Scions of ''[[Videogame/BattleZone1998 Battlezone II]]'' depend on the central computer of their homeworld, Core, to keep them alive; possibly to keep their [[{{Unobtainium}} biometal]] augments in check. Unfortunately for them, the planet is dying. In the International Space Defense Force ending, John Cooke [[spoiler: blows up the Core computer, causing the Scions to die off]]. In the Scion ending, they use what the ISDF thought of as a DoomsdayDevice to [[spoiler: terraform the Dark Planet beyond Pluto into a new Core]].

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': In the 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, while their Jaffa have to incubate larval symbiotes because they replace their immune systems.

** People are constantly pointing out that the biggest problem with things like corn and wheat is when they're grown with ''industrial agriculture,'' which puts [[MoneyDearBoy profits from agricultural production]] over the original goal of producing food for people. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Industrial agriculture's ridiculous excess is at least ONE factor in causing climate change.]]

* All the [[MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop monocultured staple crops]] such as corn and wheat. If disease or climate change devastates them....
** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland) Great Famine]] was a RealLife example. With deaths from starvation and emigration, Ireland declined so much in population, that it still hasn't reached pre-famine population levels. Oh and among the people who emigrated due to the famine were the ancestors of one [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy]]. Not quite a straight example, as the potato dependence was forced by outsiders even as the island was exporting tons of foods of all types; it's often considered an [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide engineered famine]]

* Brazil with coffee and again with rubber, Argentina with beef- incredibly wealthy societies- and in Argentina's case. petty well distributed- became bankrupt. In Argentina, because of refrigerated shipments from Australia; in Brazil they actually smuggled rubber tree plants out of the country to start a competing industry in Malaysia.

** It doesn't help that many pharmaceutical companies ''[[https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patients-a-sustainable-business-model.html refuse]]'' to research new antibiotics, given how low the profit margin is on them. In comparison to painkillers and high-priced treatments -- which can and are sold at 1000% markups -- ''tons'' of antibiotics must be produced and used every year, and if they was priced "competitively" ''no-one could afford them.''

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland) Great Famine]] was a RealLife example. With deaths from starvation and emigration, Ireland declined so much in population, that it still hasn't reached pre-famine population levels. Oh and among the people who emigrated due to the famine were the ancestors of one [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy]]. Not quite a straight example, as the potato dependence was forced by outsiders even as the island was exporting tons of foods of all types; it's often considered an [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide engineered famine]].
* Every society or species, real, imaginary, sentient or otherwise is terminally dependent on something, oftentimes something which is completely taken for granted. For example, all life on earth is highly dependent on a massive hydrogen guzzling fusion engine in the sky, which we call the sun. The difference between continued existence and annihilation usually hinges on how tamper proof and/or sustainable that something is. In this case, our massive, flaming fusion plant is fairly tamper-resistant and looks to last quite some time.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fics often treat Remnant's technological tree this way, especially in fics that deal with the planet's inhabitants making contact with different civilizations, like ''FanFic/{{Emergence|RWBY}}'' and ''FanFic/EarthsAlienHistory''. Due to their extreme dependency on Dust, a resource that only works in Remnant's biosphere, they are permanently confined to the planet and have serious issues when dealing with foreign technology.