No, I’m saying there won’t BE any oil or coal, at least not easily accessible, most of what we use now comes from unimaginably deep in the crust using very advanced technology.
We needed fossil fuels to make the leap from iron-age tech to industry, another species or civilization MIGHT be able to do it without easy access to efficient fuel sources, but it would be a huge handicap.
Fossil fuels definitely turbo-charged our technological developement. Cheap portable energy and petrochemicals. Guaranteed to be addictive. And without then, or some other comparable miracle, it would have taken us many times longer to get where we are.
We are like someone who only ever played Civ with cheats and we’re going to find out soon how hard the game is without (and… because of) that magic black goo from the ground.
No, I’m saying there won’t BE any oil or coal, at least not easily accessible, most of what we use now comes from unimaginably deep in the crust using very advanced technology.
We needed fossil fuels to make the leap from iron-age tech to industry, another species or civilization MIGHT be able to do it without easy access to efficient fuel sources, but it would be a huge handicap.
Fossil fuels definitely turbo-charged our technological developement. Cheap portable energy and petrochemicals. Guaranteed to be addictive. And without then, or some other comparable miracle, it would have taken us many times longer to get where we are.
We are like someone who only ever played Civ with cheats and we’re going to find out soon how hard the game is without (and… because of) that magic black goo from the ground.