Oil is a tool, like flints. Its not just energy; plastics, roads, lubricants, as well as the feedstock for petrochemical-based materials. The technical supply chain could work without oil, using biofuel sources for hydrocarbons, but it would be nowhere as thermodynamically efficient and hence economically viable as is the case with the use of mineral oil.dudley wrote:Isn't it wrong to compare stones to oil anyway? Stones are not a source of energy, unless you are burning oil shale.
Humans make tools -- it's what we do. The only different between flint knapping and ethylene cracking is complexity.