195 Oil

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Oil is miraculous. In the beginning is was literally free, unlimited energy. It could be easily pumped out of the ground for nothing & used in motors without refining. It's liquid at room temperature, can be handled by untrained people, easy to transport, and only a handful can move a two-ton vehicle two miles. And this doesn't even mention all the other things oil is used for, like plastic, fertilizer, lubricants, dyes & medicines. Replacing oil is a monumental challenge.</p> <p>It's unfortunate that we literally burn oil because it’s cheap. The issue irrationally galvanizes public opinion because though people pay more for bottled water than they do gasoline, they somehow think they’re being stolen from when gasoline prices rise. I’m prosaic about any looming energy crisis because it'll take care of itself: when oil finally runs out or gets too expensive then we'll switch to a variety of alternatives, none as good as oil, but improving technology will get close, and if Climate Change gets bad enough, we may even finally switch to clean nuclear, but it seems unlikely our dependence on oil will diminish anytime soon: it's just too magical.</p>