Fossil fuels definitely turbo-charged our technological developement. Cheap portable energy and petrochemicals. Guaranteed to be addictive. And without then, or some other comparable miracle, it would have taken us many times longer to get where we are.

We are like someone who only ever played Civ with cheats and we’re going to find out soon how hard the game is without (and… because of) that magic black goo from the ground.