If it WERE true, we'd be using a lot more wood and coal still, alongside petroleum. And you'd need to constantly be finding ways around the horses and carriage

If it WERE true, we'd be using a lot more wood and coal still, alongside petroleum. And you'd need to constantly be finding ways around the horses and carriages on your way into work. But for all the ways it isn't 100% true, there is still a pointing toward truth in it. It's more like 100 steps forward, 99 steps back. We're not holding still, just progressing a lot slower than it seems like we would be given the advances, and this explains why/how.