4 ms·

I'm not sure I totally understand your point here. How did 150 years of gasoline usage help lead the world to be green? And we as of yet have not changed to 10

I'm not sure I totally understand your point here. How did 150 years of gasoline usage help lead the world to be green? And we as of yet have not changed to 100% nuclear and/or recyclable and don't have the technology yet to achieve that goal of nuclear energy for "4 billion years"

nine_k 5y ago
It'd be pretty hard to advance the civilization from coal-based energy straight into nuclear / solar, without all the carbohydrates-powered cars, trucks, and airplanes in the meantime.
- ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  Has anyone actually looked into this in depth? It feels like a cheap throwaway line that you can use against new tech that's not really caught on yet, but as we're here in 2021 with EVs and nuclear power and wind turbines etc., what was actually stopping us getting there faster if we weren't distracted by oil? (either it magically didn't exist or somehow even more magically people succesfully priced in the carbon from the start).
  - oceanplexian 5y ago
    As crazy as it sounds, I think without oil civilization would have been set back 1000 years or more. We went from horse and buggy to space travel in a few decades, due in no small part to having a cheap, storable, high-density energy source that literally comes out of the ground.