History Main / TerminallyDependentSociety

* In the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness early editions]] of ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech'', humanity depended on irreplaceable FasterThanLightTravel-capable starships to travel as [[LostTechnology the knowledge and means]] to construct new ones was lost in almost [[ForeverWar 300 years of total war]]; a character in the early [[Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse expanded universe]] mentions that philosophers and scientists ponder what will happen when the last jumpship's Kearny-Fuchida drive sputters to a halt. However, the scale of destruction of humanity's tech base [[ApocalypseNot was reduced to being merely crippling]] via {{Retcon}} and UnreliableNarrator in later editions when the writers realized the situation was unsustainable both from a plot point and economics point -- can't sell new sourcebooks if there's no new mechs or starships!

An entire ship, city, society, planet or galaxy that depends on a single piece of {{Phlebotinum}} to survive. This piece of phlebotinum can take any form: It may be the energy fuel for power generation or FasterThanLightTravel, a [[MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop single all-purpose crop plant or breed of livestock]], a MasterComputer[[note]]Or [[TruthInTelevision The Internet]][[/note]] that [[BigBrotherIsWatching sees all]] and [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill plans everyone's day]], a HiveQueen or FisherKing keeping the subjects in a LotusEaterMachine, a GeniusLoci that maintains a GhibliHills {{Utopia}}, or a [[TheLifeStream spiritual source of life]]. Or maybe it's just [[FisherKingdom magically linked to every citizen]], or [[CosmicKeystone to the land itself]]. In any case, no one can imagine living without it... or ''literally'' live without it. It may or may not be [[SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence sentient]], but the point is it's grown completely beyond the control of the people. Even in those cases where it's originally man-made.

Fantasy and science fiction 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 lot of sci-fi stories predicted the internet, and many of them describe a society completely depending on it. [[Literature/TheMachineStops One of the earliest is from 1909]][[labelnote:*]]linked in the literature examples below[[/labelnote]]. There's probably earlier ones out there, but in any case this trope is OlderThanTelevision.

* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'''s interstellar society is utterly dependent on "spice" that can only be harvested on planet Arrakis. One book even points out what would happen without the spice: hundreds of billions would die of withdrawal, interstellar navigation would be impossible, millennia-old human breeding programs would collapse, etc. The reason for this is that there was a bloody revolution against a highly malevolent artificial intelligence thousands of year previously that led to absolute proscriptions on computers ("Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind"). Toward the end of ''God Emperor of Dune'', there are signs that this dependence is about to unravel, which turns out to be a good thing as the crashing finale of ''Heretics of Dune'' is [[spoiler: the destruction of the entire planet]].

* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'''s interstellar society is utterly dependent on "spice" that can only be harvested on planet Arrakis. One book even points out what would happen without the spice: hundreds of billions would die of withdrawal, interstellar navigation would be impossible, millennia-old human breeding programs would collapse, etc. When the GodEmperor wants to [[Literature/HereticsOfDune fragment humanity forever]], all he does is [[Literature/GodEmperorOfDune cause a massive spice shortage]]. "The spice must flow," after all. One of the prequel novels has the Emperor conspire with the Tleilaxu to develop an artificial spice substitute called Amal. It appears to work at first, causing the Emperor to attempt to destroy Arrakis in order to establish his own monopoly, but is a resounding failure in the end.

* The biosphere ITSELF. Without it we die. Period. Mankind does not have the technology to live without a functional biosphere nor do we have the tech to comfortably leave earth and find a new home in the stars. On a lesser level civilization cant truly thrive and excel to the best of its ability when the environment constantly changes. [[note]]There is a reason why virtually all African civilizations failed to continuously control large expanses of land compared to non-African civilizations.[[/note]]

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' has a serious problem with people developing Baseline Hyperdependency Syndrome (that is: humans are spoiled rotten by the [=AIs=]) and nothing has even gone wrong yet, although many groups predict that collapse is imminent.

* ''Manga/GiantRobo'': As the EvolvingCredits say: "Earth, the terrifying world of our future! This is the Shizuma Drive, now broken and useless, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the great energy revolution undone in just ten days!]]" The only one alternative combustible source, an oil refinery left is at Shangai, and then it's destroyed too. The earth stood still, indeed.

** This issue is pragmatically ''used'' by the Imperium as another tool to maintain order. An agriworld produces food, but is left dependent on other worlds for its defense or to provide weaponry. A world covered in hive cities will create vast amounts of resources, but critically relies on another world for its food supply. In the event of either world rebelling or falling to enemy hands, they will lack vital resources to grow into a system-spanning threat.

** ''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.

* For much of the 19th century and early 20th century, the Chilean economy was based heavily on the import of potasium nitrate AKA saltpeter to international markets. So when artificial nitrate was created by German scientists during World War I, it left the country's economy in tatters. The situation went FromBadToWorse thanks to the great depression to the point that it is said that Chile was the country the economic crisis affected the most.

** Mike the computer from ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' is a benign example: he helps the heroes plan a revolution, using his surveillance system and [[MasterComputer his complete control over transport, visual media and government documents]]. However, he really doesn't care to control people's lives; he mostly wants to talk to his friends and learn the nature of humor. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by the main character, a computer technician, who notes that hooking everything (including the ''entire'' life support system) up to one source makes a society really vulnerable. However, it was cheaper than doing it ''right,'' i.e., redundant backup computers plus manual controls for each individual colony area, and the Lunar Authority is all about doing things cheaply. It's so vital that one point in the book, a woman suggests bombing the central computer to create confusion in which they could start a revolution; the main character physically pushes her back down as she gets up - which in the female-dominated culture of Luna could get him ''lynched'', with no trial - so he can explain to her how terrible an idea that is. He tells her that he would outright murder her first, if for no other reason than that destroying Mike would almost certainly doom Luna's entire population of three million.

* The universe of the ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series starts out as a near Utopia: Mother controls the planet, there are a few A.I.s separate from her from long ago wars that fought on the winning side. Everything you could want is available. Everyone has a power allotment from Mother, although one can trade power as currency for various tasks either the A.I.s are unable to do or people prefer not to do (such as certain forms of medicine humans are better at). Most people just play various games or try changes to explore other forms of life. Some people choose to become Merpeople, others to fly. Some people upload to nanites. Something between ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' and LARP occupies many folks' times. Various historians and folks with interest keep up random hobbies from horticulture to smithing. Some folks even change into dwarves and have fun mining. Then a political argument breaks out because humanity hasn't had any real advances in 500 years and birth rates are so low as to threaten the species. One side, believing humanity has become this trope, decides to overthrow the status ouo. The 13 Council members then take all the power upholding the system and fight with it.

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

%%** future humanity is fully controlled by Multivac/AC; however, "The Life and Times of Multivac" is the only one in which the dependent society becomes obliged to do without.

* Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Literature/TheCityAndTheStars''. The Central Computer of Diaspar not only runs the city but actually creates its citizens' bodies using their stored memories. In a variation on this trope, the computer ''wants'' humans not to be dependent on it anymore, and has [[spoiler:been part of a millennia long gambit by one of its creators to create a human capable of wanting freedom.]]

* Mike the computer from Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' is a benign example: he helps the heroes plan a revolution, using his surveillance system and his complete control over transport, visual media and government documents. But he really doesn't care to control people's lives; he mostly wants to talk to his friends and learn the nature of humor.
** Lampshaded by the main character, a computer technician, who notes that hooking everything (including the ''entire'' life support system) up to one source makes a society really vulnerable. But it was cheaper than doing it ''right,'' i.e. redundant backup computers plus manual controls for each individual colony area, and the Lunar Authority is all about doing things cheaply. It's so vital that one point in the book, a woman suggests bombing the central computer to create confusion in which they could start a revolution; the main character physically pushes her back down as she gets up - which in the female-dominated culture of Luna could get him ''lynched'', with no trial - so he can explain to her how terrible an idea that is. He tells her that he would outright murder her first, if for no other reason than that destroying Mike would almost certainly doom Luna's entire population of three million.
* In Heinlein's short story "The Roads Must Roll", America has replaced all their roads with massive moving walkways, which have to be maintained by teams of engineers and mechanics for the country's economy to function. Then one of the engineers attempts to use his control over the roads to effect a coup.
* From Creator/HarlanEllison's ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'': The internet/computer system AM ends up [[DeusEstMachina becoming a God]] and destroys humanity.

* In ''Literature/CrownedKreg'' series by Olga Larionova people of one planet after a catastrophe were blind from infancy and lived in symbiosis with other sentients who gave their vision via limited telepathy (and were rewarded quite well). When it turned out it's not that simple and utopian and not even close, the disagreement proved disastrous -- everyone's still blind without 'em.

* The universe of the ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series starts out as a near Utopia: Mother controls the planet, there are a few AIs separate from her from long ago wars that fought on the winning side. Everything you could want is available. Everyone has a power allotment from Mother, although one can trade power as currency for various tasks either the AIs are unable to do or people prefer not to do (such as certain forms of medicine humans are better at). Most people just play various games or try changes to explore other forms of life. Some people choose to become Merpeople, others to fly. Some people upload to nanites. Something between VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft and LARP occupies many folks times. Various historians and folks with interest keep up random hobbies from horticulture to smithing. Some folks even change into dwarves and have fun mining. Then a political argument breaks out because humanity hasn't had any real advances in 500 years and birth rates are so low as to threaten the species. One side, believing humanity has become a TerminallyDependentSociety, decides to overthrow the Status Quo. The 13 Council members then take all the power upholding the system and fight with it.

* In the short story "Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas" by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin, the prosperity of the titular city is dependent on [[PoweredByAForsakenChild treating some poor kid like crap]]. If the child's suffering was ever alleviated, all of Omelas would suffer instead. Every citizen of Omelas is made aware of this terrible price. Most of them rationalize it away as something necessary for the greater good and live their lives to the fullest knowing the cost. And then there are those who decide it isn't worth it, and walk away from Omelas.
* Scott Westerfeld's ''Literature/{{Uglies}}'' takes place in a future where our current society has been destroyed due to a plague that burns up all our oil. The future society thus tries to avoid this trope, making sure to carefully manage their use of natural resources, only to [[spoiler:be overthrown in the end]] since, as David {{lampshades}}, they were dependent on a mandatory operation that made everyone beautiful and [[spoiler:stopped people from thinking for themselves and wanting things. People who wanted to think for themselves did not like this and found a way to reverse that part of the operation.]]

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'': Food might seem like a slightly obvious one to mention, but Ankh-Morpork is apparently only a few meals from going hungry even at the best of times. This problem is mostly mitigated in ''Literature/RaisingSteam'', where the advent of the steam engine makes it possible to get fresh food in the city for the first time, while simultaneously causing a population boom in the environs. Another example would be Vetinari's great Undertaking, a plan to upgrade the city's infrastructure to run off [[spoiler: the perpetual-motion Device that the Watch confiscated from the dark dwarfs in ''{{Literature/Thud}}!''. The largest dwarf cities already run this way]].

* Creator/JohnVarley's ''Literature/SteelBeach:'' CC, the Central Computer that runs everything on Luna, goes insane.
* The final pages of ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings 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 [[spoiler:Rivendell and Lothlórien]], 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 havens would be left vulnerable: they'd have to be abandoned, even if [[spoiler:the elves weren't already leaving Middle-Earth.]]

* In the ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' books, the eponymous fleet is trapped deep in enemy territory and is utterly dependent on its factory ships. These ships provide the fleet with the fuel cells and ammunition that it needs to travel and fight but they are slow and highly vulnerable to enemy attack. A major factor in any battles the fleet fights is to make sure that the factory ships are always protected.

** In ''Fallen Angels'', an eco-socialist regime has come to power, and banned everything save "appropriate" technology. The catch is that no matter how many windmills and solar panels they build, it's nowhere near as efficient as good-old-fashioned coal and petroleum, leaving millions of people without political pull to freeze in the ice age brought on by the lack of particulate matter in the atmosphere.

** ''Literature/AWorldOutOfTime'', ''Literature/TheIntegralTrees'' and ''Literature/TheSmokeRing'' actually '''call''' their ruling body the State. It's a DiscussedTrope in ''A World Out of Time'', where the protagonist has a conversation with his State-assigned case worker about the strengths and weaknesses of an empire based on monopolizing vital resources (water being the example).
* In ''Literature/TheCityOfEmber'', the Emberites rely severely on the electrical generator, which is the only thing keeping the city from plunging into permanent darkness. It's currently in terrible shape, with city-wide blackouts becoming longer and more frequent by the day. [[spoiler:That's because it's far exceeded its intended lifespan; Ember was designed to be inhabited for 200 years, but it's been nearly 250]].
* Hallendren in ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' is a {{Downplayed}} example. While Hallendren could ''survive'' without the Tears of Edgli, the cheap dyes that can be manufactured from the flowers are the foundation of Hallendren's economic prosperity.
* In the ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'' novel ''Star of Cursrah'', an ancient city in the desert relies upon a massive aqueduct to distribute water to its fountains, pumps and wells. When its royals snub a rival city's prince by choosing another for their eldest daughter's husband, he has the aqueduct's water source diverted and the city's population descends into chaos and flight within hours of the flow's cessation.

* Earthlike planets cannot support life without liquid water on its surface. If its parent star starts to leave the main-sequence stage, said planet's temperature will exceed that of the boiling point of water, and the results will be self-explanatory. Also, plate tectonics cannot exist without liquid oceans. Guess what happens in about 1 billion years!

Machines can keep you breathing - but what happens when they find a new war's begun?\\

->''"This city's sleeping like a soldier trapped inside of an iron lung''\\
''Machines can keep you breathing - but what happens when they find a new war's begun?''\\
''Flip a switch and turn it off, you won't be able to breathe''\\
''So either way you're a casualty!"''
-->-- '''Joe''', ''Music/TheProtomen'', ''Light Up The Night''.

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}}.

* ''{{Manga/GiantRobo}}'': As the EvolvingCredits say: "Earth, the terrifying world of our future! This is the Shizuma Drive, now broken and useless, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the great energy revolution undone in just ten days!]]" The only one alternative combustible source, an oil refinery left is at Shangai, and then it's destroyed too. The earth stood still, indeed.

* In the end of Literature/ThePendragonAdventure's ''The Reality Bug'', [[spoiler:the people of Veelox cannot function without the Lifelight pyramid, a [[LotusEaterMachine virtual fantasy program]].]]

* Creator/DerekGunn's Literature/VampireApocalypseTheSeries has vampires relating to human beings this way. It's also a metaphor for humanity's relationship with oil, which resulted in the whole situation.
* The ''Literature/NovelsOfTheChange'' show that humanity in TheNineties (let alone our time) would undergo TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt without trucking and tractors (other linchpins knocked out by said [[AlienSpaceBats Change]] include electricity, explosives and steam power, but internal combustion is the most immediately lethal one).

* Raise your hands, tropers: how long could you stay sane if the internet up and disappeared?
** [[UnreliableNarrator How sane am I now??]]

* This can happen to countries who rely on cash crop farming to support their economies, especially in developing countries such as areas of Africa in the form of cotton and rubber to provide for its citizens and cover its expenses.
** Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world (right after oil) and if you MustHaveCaffeine, you know why. The US tried and avert negative consequences of too low coffee prices by creating a cartel of the major producers, which was dissolved after the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. On the flip side, the GDR had some of the heaviest political protests of its existence due to a coffee shortage in the mid 1970s. Coffee is SeriousBusiness.
* The plight of bees worldwide has led many to speculate on how hard it would be for us to pollinate all the plants we rely on without them.
** Can also apply to the bees themselves, especially those bred to harvest pollen from only a specific number of flowers.

* Antibiotics. Without them, many people (often children) would die of bacterial infections, women would [[DeathByChildbirth die during or shortly after childbirth]], safe surgery would be next to impossible, as would chemotherapy. It's not just medicine that depends heavily on antibiotics, either: most of modern agriculture depends on them, as well. Family size also is impacted, with an increased chance of children surviving to adulthood to carry on the family lineage (and thus less of a need to have a lot of them). So as bacteria evolve resistance to more and more antibiotics, civilization and society as we know it become more and more jeopardized.
** 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 [[MoneyDearBoy 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.''

* In ''Literature/TheCityOfEmber'', the Emberites rely severely on the electrical generator, which is the only thing keeping the city from plunging into permanent darkness.

** The City of Atlas remains floating above the slums of Mantle entirely due to the Staff of Creation; if the Staff were to be stolen and/or used for a different purpose, Atlas would fall onto Mantle in a ColonyDrop that would annihilate both cities. [[spoiler:In Volume 8, the heroes have to move the Staff to keep it out of Salem's hands, so they use it to make portals to evacuate everyone in Atlas and Mantle to Vacuo so nobody will die as a result.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': All of the world's technology runs off a single type of AppliedPhlebotinum: Dust, magic-like elemental crystals that do everything from power everyday machines to enhancing ammunition. The [[AllThereInTheManual World of Remnant]] video on the subject notes that it's becoming harder to find new Dust deposits, and no one has bothered to research any alternative energy sources because Dust is just so incredibly convenient; even a medieval society can quickly make good use of it. In the show proper, however, references to this are minimal, only mentioning that Dust prices have been going up.

* In ''Crowned Kreg'' series by Olga Larionova people of one planet after a catastrophe were blind from infancy and lived in symbiosis with other sentients who gave their vision via limited telepathy (and were rewarded quite well). When it turned out it's not that simple and utopian and not even close, the disagreement proved disastrous -- everyone's still blind without 'em.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* In ''Series/{{Flash Gordon|2007}}'', Ming's rulership of all Mongo was based on his control of 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 interdimensional travel to [[spoiler:steal Earth's water]].
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "The Haven", people have become incredibly dependent on the artificial intelligence Argus, which controls every aspect of life in the buildings in which it is installed. Many people try to avoid contact with others unless it is absolutely necessary. As a result, normal social interaction is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Considering that its mandate is to promote the health and well-being of the people in its care, Argus deactivates itself in buildings throughout the city so that people will be forced to rely on each other for survival.

** 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.

*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E1SpocksBrain Spock's Brain]]". An underground civilization is coordinated by a [[BrainInAJar humanoid brain]] called the Controller. When it fails, the inhabitants go looking for a replacement and acquire the titular object.
*** TOS adored this trope, especially combined with MasterComputer - examples include "The Apple" and "Return of the Archons". Cue the James T. Kirk patented LogicBomb!
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
*** "11001001." The Bynar home planet is run by a computer which is going to be hit by an EM pulse from a nearby supernova and get erased, so the Bynars steal ''Enterprise'' to temporarily house their computer's memory.
*** "When the Bough Breaks." An alien race called the Aldeans have been reliant on their technology -- especially the Custodian supercomputer that provides for all their needs -- for so long that they have basically forgotten how everything works; all the super-advanced scientific knowledge of their ancestors has more or less been stored in a computer archive somewhere and forgotten about. Even the idea that something might, say, break down and need fixing never occurs to them. It's made more literally terminal by the fact that [[ToxicPhlebotinum their technology is actually slowly killing them]], a fact that they weren't able to figure out for themselves simply because they've lost the relevant knowledge, yet Dr. Crusher -- from the supposedly less-advanced Federation -- is able both to identify the problem and the necessary treatment in a matter of days.
*** "Up the Long Ladder" had a society dependent on cloning run into CloneDegeneration. They were forced to do it the old fashioned way with a neighboring society of Luddites.
*** In the episode "Symbiosis," ''Enterprise'' encounters a ship from a planet that is suffering a species-wide plague that can only be staved off with a drug supplied by a neighboring race. It is later revealed that the plague is long gone and the symptoms the people experience are a result of withdrawal; the drug is also highly addictive. Due to the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]], [[TheCaptain Picard]] agrees not to reveal the truth to the suffering race, but he also refuses to help them fix their few remaining ships (they have degraded technologically) under the same pretext, so that they will eventually be unable to trade with the other race and learn the truth after they finish going through withdrawal. It's noted in passing that ''both'' societies are terminally dependent -- because of the profits of selling the drug, the race that provided them ended up structuring their economy around it.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
*** "Shadowplay" sees Dax and Odo investigating mysterious disappearance in a village on a Gamma Quadrant world. The cause is revealed to be the village's reactor, which is, in truth, a hologenerator: the entire village and all of its inhabitants (save for one person) are holograms, and the hologenerator is beginning to break down, causing people to disappear. Thankfully, Dax and Odo are able to repair the hologenerator and save the village.

*** In "The Thaw", a people created a system that would keep their bodies in stasis and their minds active long enough for their world to become habitable again. As time passed, their fears became manifest in the virtual reality as a clown that would bring out a guillotine when it was unhappy. Two are dead before the crew finds them, and another is killed in the process of trying to save them from it.
** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'':
*** The ''entire galaxy'' is shown to satisfy this trope during the show's third season, which involves the eponymous ship time-traveling forward into a UsedFuture where dilithium -- the {{phlebotinum}} that allows for controlled matter-{{antimatter}} reactions in warp cores and thus makes FasterThanLightTravel possible -- all suddenly went boom. Like, every single bit of it, everywhere. Every interstellar government has since collapsed, creating a PointsOfLightSetting that the main characters have to navigate.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Mother in ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'': a world-assimilating AI/ GreyGoo /[[TheSingularity Singularity]] that provides everything Humanity asks for - to point of making people unnecessary, irrelevant and progressively infantile. They go to the verge of extinction as life in the virtual worlds she/it provides takes precedence over breeding. When humanity finally goes to war with Mother, victory comes at a terrible cost: much of human history and culture dies with Mother, and every human is [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic blinded]].
* In ''WebComic/Collar6'', nearly all technology works on MagiTek, which requires people to be extremely in-tune with their [[SoulPower souls]] for it to work. The BigBad planned to fire an ancient, magical superweapon to forcibly separate everyone from their souls in order to TakeOverTheWorld. However, he planned to give them back once everyone proved they could be responsible with them.
* {{Discussed}} in ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor''. Sam {{Lampshades}} that the Racconans seem to be totally dependent on their lux-tech, but Quentyn retorts that ''every'' civilization has certain basic technologies it depends on, and that it would be just as accurate to say that [[TheDungAges human civilization]] is "dependent" on iron and fire.
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