Mendeleev, of the periodic table of elements fame, used to write that cities will be ridden with the manure in 100 years and will be hard to live in. He also us

Mendeleev, of the periodic table of elements fame, used to write that cities will be ridden with the manure in 100 years and will be hard to live in. He also used to compare burning coal to burning paper money. It is the same Mendeleev who was able to figure out explosives and alloy compositions out of the railroad traffic to the factories which produced these explosives and alloys. So I think you can be sure that Mendeleev was able to use data he had pretty efficiently. The drastic changes you mention will be not so drastic after all and, I think, will be surprising to all of us if we see them today.