will high oil prices strenghten or reduce the sustainability of the world`s contemporary industrial societies?
Answer Dear Pablo: I’m not sure that I am the best person to answer this question, but I will give it a try. The world’s contemporary industrial societies are all built on natural resources, particularly energy. Without cheap and abundant energy, there would have been no industrial revolution and no technological/knowledge revolution now. The energy sources to fit the bill of “cheap and abundant” have changed over the years, depending on available technology, population, and natural resources among other things. Wood burning was replaced (in the western world anyway) by coal, which was replaced by petroleum as the fuel of choice. As long as industrial societies have a continuing source of energy, they will continue to grow. In the examples above, newer kinds of more abundant and cheaper energy are in large measure what pushed technological advancement in those societies. So, the question of high oil prices strengthening or weakening industrial societies today is a double-edged sword. O
