TaaL: The above description makes sense but leaves out the main point (from my alien perspective). Yes, you conflate price and cost. But the bigger issue is you also conflate worth . The price is what it sells for, and the cost is what it takes to wrest it from the Earth, refine and transport. But the worth is the high man-hour labor equivalent. Oil has always sold for far less than its potential energy is worth to your culture - Thousands of times less for what it could accomplish for a sapient species. It’s a bit like a man who inherits a rare coin collection, and then uses the gold coins in a soda machine since they were free to him anyway. Earth ’ s consumers are confusing price and cost. Earth ’ s leaders are confusing price and worth. The Bottom Line: There’s the price the economic system can afford for oil, and the financial cost to extract and produce it. They may be very different. And they both ignore the inherent real worth of oil.
What if Oil cost $400 per Barrel?
Summary: As we have seen, there will be oil “left” underground long after
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