History Main / NatureVersusTechnology

* ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'': The 12,000+ year war between the Demigods and the Gohma has shades of this. The Demigods are an advanced people using hi-tech cybernetics, weapons and warships, while the Gohma all look like monstrous (and massive) wild animal, or sometimes animal hybrids, and are said to be the planet's own will and wrath manifested.

* VideoGame/AsurasWrath: The 12,000+ year war between the Demigods and the Gohma has shades of this. The Demigods are an advanced people using hi-tech cybernetics, weapons and warships, while the Gohma all look like monstrous (and massive) wild animal, or sometimes animal hybrids.

* ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'' is a film that has a heavy GreenAesop and isn't very subtle about it. Whilst it's main antagonist, Hexxus, is actually a primal DestructionDeity that existed before the industrial revolution the movie portrays him thriving thanks to the polluting nature of the logging technology of a machine called the Leveller and implies cutting down ''any'' tree as a travesty at least to the forest fairy protagonist Crysta. The closest technology gets to being portrayed as "good" is when the fairies find deuteragonist Zak's walkman and enjoy the music it plays.

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''

[[quoteright:350:[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stomping_ground.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The endless battle between natural and artificial growth.]]

* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'': The Plants often use their natural capabilities to fight against the Zombies, who often use tools, robots, and advanced technology invented by [[BigBad Dr. Zomboss]].

* This trope makes up the central conflict of ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', which follows the battle between the organic life of Bionis, an organic titan, and the Mechon of Mechonis, a [[MechanicalMonster mechanical titan]]. [[spoiler:While the conflict is initially set up as "Bionis good, Mechonis bad", the reveal that it was the Bionis that started the conflict, and Mechonis is only attacking in retaliation, makes things far more complicated]].

* ''Videogame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'': The Harmony specialization represents Nature, prioritizing preserving the new planet's ecosystems, using genetic engineering to adapt humans for life in a new environment and domesticating alien lifeforms, while those with the Supremacy specialization represents technology, using robots, artificial intelligence, and cybernetic upgrades to create a human race that can thrive independently of their environment.

* ''[[Film/TheTimeMachine2002 The Time Machine]]'': A TropeCodifier where Nature pulls double duties as TimeMaster against the protagonist, Alexander, preventing him from saving his love from dying. Later, as Alex attempts to seek answers in order to learn, resource exploitation on the Moon end up [[GoneHorriblyWrong destroying it]] and with it, the [[FromBadToWorse the human civilization]]. After some time though, shown to be several thousands of years, what remains of humans, the Eloi, live in [[TheFutureWillBeBetter harmony with their surroundings]] if not for their antagonism by [[TheMorlocks the Morlocks]], who have evolved underground. Ultimately, Alexander repurposes his time machine as a bomb in order to destroy the Morlocks' threat to the Eloi.

** The Crystal Gems are gems who rebelled against Homeworld when their leader and founder -- Rose Quartz -- saw Earth in its natural state and was inspired by it to rebel against TheEmpire. While much smaller and number and technologically inferior to Homeworld's forces, the Crystal Gems are less bogged down by the inherent limitations that Homeworld is obedient to (allowing gems to learn against their intended purpose and freedom to practice fusion) and they are more accepting of Earth's thriving ecosystem. This can be best gleaned from their leader and founder Rose Quartz, who has GreenThumb and healing abilities.

* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Has something of a sliding scale of living in harmony with nature vs. exploiting resource through technology. Lothlórien, Rivendale, The Shire -- Mines of Moria, Isengard, and Mordor are on it in that respective order.

** Rivendale is a harmonious fusion of nature and subtle Elvish craftsmanship. The elven refuge blends seamlessly with its natural surroundings, showcasing a balance between ethereal elegance and minimal technology.
** The Shire is an idyllic, homeland of the Hobbits, characterized by rolling hills, lush fields, and quaint villages.
** Moria stands beyond a border as a stark contrast to The Shire. It's a once-great Dwarven city, now a forsaken mine, marred by industrial greed and technology, reflecting the perils of uncontrolled advancement and neglect of nature.
** Isengard, once a beautiful fortress, is transformed into an industrial powerhouse under the influence of Saruman the White. The wizard, once a guardian of wisdom and nature, succumbs to the lure of power and seeks to rival Sauron. He turns Isengard into a mechanized fortress, with the lush gardens replaced by furnaces, pits, and smoky forges. Saruman employs his knowledge of technology and machinery, creating an army of Uruk-hai that can rival any in Middle-earth.
** Mordor exemplifies a dystopian vision of industrialization taken to its extreme. Ruled by the Dark Lord Sauron, is depicted as a nightmarish industrialized wasteland. The land is scarred and desolate, with vast factories and forges churning out weapons and machinery for Sauron's armies. The landscape is dominated by the oppressive presence of Barad-dûr, Sauron's dark fortress, which serves as the epicenter of this industrial complex.

Indexes: TechnologicalTropes, TropesOfNature, VersusTitle

[[quoteright:250:[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stomping_ground.jpg]]]]

[[caption-width-right:250:The endless battle between natural and artificial growth.]]

* ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'': Jean thinks technology is a wonderful thing for mankind. His friend Nadia holds the diametrically opposed opinion, inspired by her ability to SpeaksFluentAnimal and her abusive upbringing in the circus where she grew up. [[spoiler:Ironically, Nadia comes from a race of AncientAstronauts]].

* ''VideoGame/Mother3'': A major theme of the game involves the conflict between the more nature-leaning heroes who come from Tazmily Village, a town that initially lived in harmony alongside nature without much development, and the more technology-leaning villains, the Pigmasks who modify nature to not only create modern technology but also change the animals of the land into chimeras fit to their views. Narratively, the game starts out very nature-settled especially in Chapter 1 where technology is only somewhat influential but starting in Chapter 4, it moves away into technological landscapes transitioning with an in-between state, finalizing with Chapter 8 taking place entirely in the technologically advanced [[spoiler: New Pork City]]. The logo itself reflects this dichotomy as it is made out of wood, but is shown covered in metal reflecting the transition of the game, [[spoiler: at the end of the game after Lucas pulls the last needle the logo is shown covered entirely in wood, implying that nature won in the end thanks to Luca's wish.]]

** This came to a head when they created an artificial god out of their second sun, Stella, and kept him locked up for experiments. [[spoiler: The god, Xanu, eventually turned their technology against them, slaughtering many but unable to wipe them out entirely when escaped through a portal. Still, Xanu as a force of nature was able to nearly destroy their entire society, but he still considers any surviving Foreclaimer society a threat to the Bellowing Wilds.]]
** When the Fools Gold team [[spoiler: reopen the portal 3,000 years later, they discover the Foreclaimers split into two camps in the wake of the attempted genocide: One, the Old Society, continued to value technology above all else, while the other, Stella?s Children, believed having empathy and kindness would have stopped the disaster from occurring and decided to forego enhancements in favor of living more in tune with the earth and trying to develop empathy. Even their methods of getting food from petrified rock are juxtaposed: While the Old Society use tech to zap plants out of rock faster, the plants lack flavor and die faster. Stella's Children use druidic magic to coax nature out of the rock, which takes longer but leads to a better crop. Downplayed, since Stella's Children still struggle with empathy, which Sips points out means they could still slide back into their old ways.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Downplayed. One of the themes throughout the series is how the Fire Nation managed to take over so much of the world not just because of their bending, but because of their military industrialization. While all of the nations but the Air Nomads had developed complex cities and societies powered by their own forms of bending, it was difficult to stand up to the massive battleships and tanks developed by the Fire Nation on top of their bending. This caused a lot of imbalance and natural destruction, shown by the destroyed forest in "Winter Solstice Part 1: Spirit World", Zhao's hunt for [[spoiler: and later killing of]] the moon spirit in "The Siege of the North", and [[spoiler: Ozai's plan to scorch the entire Earth Kingdom during Sozin's Comet]]. Avatar Aang, as the embodiment of balance in nature, is the only one capable of stopping them for good, and [[spoiler: he and Zuko later discover that the Fire Nation had forgotten the true nature of fire as a source of light and energy rather than mere destruction]]. However, people like Sokka and the mechanist also developed technology to help aid the Avatar and stop the destruction, showing that nature and technology don't have to be at odds.

** In Season 1, the naturally-talented benders are antagonized by nonbender Equalists, who use technology to fight on a more even playing field with opponents, bringing them to their leader to remove their bending. While this is treated as wrong, especially when the Equalist tech becomes overpowered, [[spoiler: Asami]] also makes use of tech weapons to defend her bending friends. In addition, Korra is able to connect with her bending more through modern pro-bending than through Tenzin's super-spiritual techniques, which gets him to ease up on his rules of Korra living a totally modern-free monk lifestyle.
** In Season 2, Unalaq argues that due to this rapid progress, the world has lost touch with the spirits and with nature, blaming the spirits' attack the Southern Water Tribe on the sacred Glacier Spirits Festival becoming commercialized. [[spoiler: While it turns out this was Unalaq's fault, since he sided with the literal force of darkness that caused the spirits to become less peaceful, Korra reconnecting with the spirit of light makes her see VillainHasAPoint, and she leaves the spirit portals open rather than close them back so that the world can reconnect with the spirits and with nature.]]
** Season 3 sees the results of Korra's decision at the end of Season 2. [[spoiler: While Republic City struggles with the inconvenience of the spirit vines retaking parts of the city and blaming it on Korra, non-benders around the world start gaining the ability to airbend, correcting the imbalance that had been present since the Air Nomads were wiped out 160 years before. Thus, Korra turns her back on Republic City and travels to rebuild the Air Nation.]]
** In Season 4, when [[spoiler: Kuvira]] creates a tech weapon that is powered by spirit vines, ordering her troops to harvest them to the point of near-extinction, [[spoiler: the spirit vines start fighting back, not just against the troops, but against all humans.]]

SuperTrope to RockBeatsLaser, which is what happens when nature wins. See also LuddWasRight, MotherNatureFatherScience, and VillainousBadlandHeroicArcadia. Not to be confused with TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar.

* Discussed in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' by Doc Brown, as an advocate of ScienceIsGood, he cannot understand why Old Man Peabody wanted to grow pine trees on what was Twin Pines Mall's location. Later, he and Marty exploit nature's gift of a lightning strike's known time and date in order to power the time machine so it can get [[TitleDrop back to the future]].
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', as TechnologyMarchesOn, the society of the future seems to have weather control that is more reliable than the post office. WordOfStPaul in additional materials hints that the future depicted is a nuclear-powered one by the very common availability of Mr. Fusion. No matter how impressed Marty and Doc Brown are about it though, there are two police officers that discuss among themselves that it is a CrapsaccharineWorld.

[[caption-width-right:960:The endless battle between natural and artificial growth.]]

A theme as old as the invention of fire, the idea of nature and mankind's progress has been pitted against each other in an eternal war. With the technological boom of the Industrial Revolution and the ever increasing [[TheSingularity singularity]] that follows (including the backlash primitivists and environmentalists have given over the years), this motif has practically developed into a subgenre all its own.

* '''Nature''': The balance of the Animal, Plant, Fungi and Bacterial Kingdoms all under a delicate, naturally-engineered process living in harmony. When [[AppealToNature nature is presented as good]] (and it usually is), expect a GreenAesop to be there ready and waiting. Butterflies and bunny rabbits, towers trees with dew on them, perhaps even ancient magics left behind by animistic spirits in the trees and the rivers. Keep in mind however that while nature is essential and omnipresent, [[NatureIsNotNice that doesn't necessarily make it safe]]. Nature is full of poisonous plants, feral predators and parasitic wasps. MotherNature can be nurturing, but she can also be vindictive and [[NatureIsNotAToy doesn't like it when you break her toys]].
* '''Technology''': Advancing technology and scientific progress have led to the invention of "the artificial." On the one hand, human civilization provided air-conditioners, vaccines and the Internet. On the other hand, it also gave us lead-paint, nuclear bombs and social media. Science is amoral, but stories can make it out to be either [[ScienceIsGood good]] or [[ScienceIsBad bad]]. {{Transhuman}}ism and MechanicalLifeforms, data blossoming into {{Cyberspace}}, space-travel and {{Cyberpunk}}. CreatingLife through the process can either end with [[AIIsACrapshoot destruction]] or [[BenevolentAI the birth of a bright future]]. [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Anything is possible with science]].

* ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'': Jean thinks technology is a wonderful thing for mankind. His friend Nadia holds the diametrically opposed opinion, inspired by her ability to SpeaksFluentAnimal and her abusive upbringing in the circus where she grew. [[spoiler:Ironically, Nadia comes from a race of AncientAstronauts]].
* Part of the conflict of ''Anime/PrincessMononoke''. Lady Eboshi and Iron Town's industrialization and pollution damages the surrounding nature, which retaliates through various nature deities attacking the village. However, the movie also shows that technology empowers humans, and that the best way to live is by advancing in harmony with nature.

* The CentralTheme of [[Creator/RalphBakshi Ralph Bakshi's]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Wizards}}'' is the conflict between forces of Nature, represented by the fantasy folk led by the wizard Avatar, and the Forces of Technology, formed by nuclear humans led by the wizard Blackwolf. Interesting enough, the movie not only focus on the use of technology for weapons, but also for ''propaganda'', in [[SignatureScene one of the more famous scenes]] of the movie Blackfoot shows his army an old film reel filled with actual Nazi footage to inspire his army. Ultimately, the movie also shows that [[ScienceIsBad total rejection of technology]] is also foolish, technology becomes evil through the hands of whoever is wielding it.

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': Puts the indigenous and sentient life of Pandora against the resource exploitative technological humans. Eywa, the [[MotherNature supreme being]] of Pandora, comes to the Na'vi peoples' aid when they go up against the humans.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', as TechnologyMarchesOn, the society of the future seems to have weather control that is more reliable than the post office. WordOfStPaul in additional materials hint that the future depicted is a nuclear powered one by the very common availability of Mr. Fusion. No matter how impressed Marty and Doc Brown are about it though, there are two police officers that discuss among themselves that it is a CrapsaccharineWorld.

** The Fremen, the native people of Arrakis, have a deep understanding of this ecosystem and they adapt their way of life to it through a philosophy that regards everything in their surrounding as resource management. The Bene Gesserit, employ advanced genetic manipulation and religious conversion in order to further their political goals and struggle for control. The Spacing Guild's navigators rely heavily on the spice in order to make space travel possible. Advanced technology, especially artificial intelligence, is strictly limited due to the Butlerian Jihad, a war waged against powerful machines leading to a prohibition on them, promoting Mentats -- humans who have undergone training in order to enhance their reasoning skills.
* The ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'' book series is an AlternateHistory retelling of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. The Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary and The Ottoman Empire) are here named the Clankers; possessing sufficiently advanced (though not exactly fuel efficient) [[AMechByAnyOtherName Mechs]], {{Spider Tank}}s and artillery. The Entente Powers (Russia, France and and The British Empire) are known as the Darwinists; having used Charles Darwin's discovery of DNA, their technology takes the form of BioPunk animals that function as vehicles, weapons and a wide variety of other things that take the form of machines in RealLife. Other countries beyond the various powers (the Americas being one) use off-hand mixtures of these two conflicting forms of innovation.
* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Has something of a sliding scale of living in harmony with nature vs. exploiting resource through technology. Lothlórien, Rivendale, The Shire -- Mines of Moria, Isengard and Mordor are on it in that respective order.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': the dichotomy between green and blue stems from this. Green wants things to stay natural while blue endeavors to increase the technology. The various artifact centric sets naturally tends to favor blue, while green cards are hard pressed to have appropriate cards to the set and are often made to destroy artifacts.

* ''Videogame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'': The Harmony specialization represents Nature, prioritizing preserving the new planet's ecosystems, using genetic engineering to adapt humans for life in a new environment and domesticating alien lifeforms, while those with the Supremacy specialization represents technology, using robots, artificial intelligence and cybernetic upgrades to create a human race that can thrive independently of their environment.

* ''VideoGame/Mother3'': A major theme of the game involves the conflict between the more nature-leaning heroes who come from Tazmily Village, a town that initially lived in harmony alongside nature without much development, and the more technology-leaning villains, the Pigmasks who modify nature to not only create modern technology, but also change the animals of the land into chimeras fit to their views. Narratively, the game starts out very nature-settled especially on Chapter 1 where technology is only somewhat influential but starting on Chapter 4 it moves away into technological landscapes transitioning with an in-between state, finalizing with Chapter 8 taking place entirely in the technologically advanced [[spoiler: New Pork City]]. The logo itself reflects this dichotomy as it is made out of wood, but is shown covered in metal reflecting the transition of the game, [[spoiler: at the end of the game after Lucas pulls the last needle the logo is shown covered entirely in wood, implying that nature won in the end thanks to Luca's wish.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'': The Hiisi is a faction of monsters that wield guns, jetpacks and explosives, they are [[MeleeATrois just as aggressive to the Noita as they are aggressive to the rest of the monsters]]. According to the translated runes/glyphs [[spoiler:Nature, Magic and Technology were all three born from the eggs of a cosmic loon, and they are in constant conflict.]]

** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' juxtaposes Black City and White Forest as their respective version exclusives. Black City is a {{Cyberpunk}}-esque city which provides additional Trainers for the player to fight as its population increases, while White Forest is an {{Arcadia}} preserve that features wild Pokemon for the player to capture.

* The ''Videogame/{{Thief}}'' franchise has this trope present in the conflict between the two main religions of the city, the Pagans worship nature, chaos and magic while the [[CrystalDragonJesus Hammerites]] use construction and technology to advance civilization. The {{Big Bad}}s of the first two games have a ContrastingSequelAntagonist relationship with each other from taking these two positions to dangerous extremes. In the first game, [[spoiler:The Trickster, a NatureSpirit the pagans worship as a god]] wants to use a magic ritual to return the city to its natural state, destroying all trace of human civilization, while in the second, [[spoiler:Father Karras]] plans to use a robot army to flood the city with poison gas and wipe out all organic life that doesn't meet his ideals.
* This trope makes up the central conflict of ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', which follows the battle between the organic life of Bionis, an organic titan, and the Mechon of Mechonis, a [[MechanicalMonster mechanical titan]]. [[spoiler:While the conflict is initially set up as "Bionis good, Mechonis bad", the reveal that is was the Bionis that started the conflict, and Mechonis is only attacking in retaliation, makes things far more complicated]].

** When the Fools Gold team [[spoiler: reopen the portal 3,000 years later, they discover the Foreclaimers split into two camps in the wake of the attempted genocide: One, the Old Society, continued to value technology above all else, while the other, Stella?s Children, believed having empathy and kindness would have stopped the disaster from occurring and decided to forego enhancements in favor of living more in tune with the earth and trying to develop empathy. Even their methods of getting food from petrified rock are juxtaposed: While the Old Society use tech to zap plants out of rock faster, the plants lack flavor and die faster. Stella?s Children use druidic magic to coax nature out of the rock, which takes longer but leads to a better crop. Downplayed, since Stella's Children still struggle with empathy, which Sips points out means they could still slide back into their old ways.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Downplayed. One of the themes throughout the series is how the Fire Nation managed to take over so much of the world not just because of their bending, but because of their military industrialization. While all of the nations but the Air Nomads had developed complex cities and societies powered by their own forms of bending, it was difficult to stand up to the massive battleships and tanks developed by the Fire Nation on top of their bending. This caused a lot of imbalance and natural destruction, shown with the destroyed forest in "Winter Solstice Part 1: Spirit World", Zhao's hunt for [[spoiler: and later killing of]] the moon spirit in "The Siege of the North", and [[spoiler: Ozai's plan to scorch the entire Earth Kingdom during Sozin's Comet]]. Avatar Aang, as the embodiment of balance in nature, is the only one capable of stopping them for good, and [[spoiler: he and Zuko later discover that the Fire Nation had forgotten the true nature of fire as a source of light and energy rather than mere destruction]]. However, people like Sokka and the mechanist also developed technology to help aid the Avatar and stop the destruction, showing that nature and technology don't have to be at odds.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'': Unlike it's [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 Distaff Counterpart]], this show had a very clear Nature vs Technology theme, with the heroic Rebellion operating on the side of the Natural and Ancient Magic while the invasive Horde primarily utilized technological war machines and tended to be an empire of steel.