I don't want to get into a whole peak oil argument here, but it's not a simple solution to count on these amazing new technologies. Oil is such a high density portable energy source we will have difficulty replacing it. My worry is not about keeping cars running, it's about keeping ourselves fed. Our industrial agriculture scheme requires enormous petroleum inputs before the food even gets shipped or processed. Oil based fertilizers and pesticides plus the energy required to machine the land and bring fresh water - that's a lot of energy requirements. And while we may have alternatives to gas engines, we may have alternative electricity sources for our homes -- we do not have alternatives to these oil based pesticides and fertilizers which will allow us to grow food at the scale we do now.
The reality we will all be facing is a more localized economy, for energy, for food, for everything.
The scenery WILL change. How and by how much is anyone's guess, but I think that holding out for technology to keep us running "business as usual" is dangerous.
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no clever signoff.
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