What if in 10 or 15 years the oil reserves of our planet would run out. At the rate we're consuming it now, it's not as improbable as it may seem. Alternative fuel source? Doubtfully. If we'd care, we'd be concentrating on that now. And I think it's too late for this now anyway.

Imagine no cars. No ER. No food transporation. Imagine no power. The most important thing a man can own will, again, become land. In the absolute best case scenario, we'll come back to a feudal-age system of sorts. In the worst, countries will fight for oil and water reserves, until the only thing left's a smoking desert. We have too many weapons, and too much power, and not nearly enough hesitation to use either of them.

In 10 or 15 years, we may all be dead.

The bottom line is money, nobody gives a ****.

What if...

Koobie stopped making threads?

Yeah, whatever.

We're not going to run out of oil so much as it will no longer be economical to extract it. Even the most conservative estimates give another 50 years, but China is entering the equation at a very high consumtion rate. Still, even when oil runs out, there will still be other petrolium products, like natural gas and coal available. Alternative energy technology is out there, but it's not economical yet. It will be, eventually. Dwindling oil reserves will jumpstart that as well, but we haven't hit doomsday yet.

I won't be sad to see the internal combustion engine go the way of the dodo.

On the other hand, I don't think water will be as much of an issue... at least not around here. Hell, it falls from the sky

Seattle-ites are practically fish.

There's only one replacement for oil that's technically and economically feasible now and in the near future. I'll give you three guesses what it is, but you're only gonna need one.

And if you think it's wind or solar power, I'll smack you.

soylent green?

It'll help with the populatin problems too!

If there would be problems and panic, it would come before we run out in anticipation of depletion.

If nothing else, we would NOT plunge back into the feudal age, because we've done with oil a lot longer since then. Don't get me wrong -- it'll suck to be set back however many years. However, it'll only be because of these sort of reactions and fears that a major world war will break out.

So please, when we start running low on oil, don't feel you're not going to live anyway and start anarchy.

By the time we run out of oil, it won't matter.

Ill totally get a cool car, and a dog with a bandana, and a sawed off.
BAM! Road Warrior.

I'll laugh and listen to some more CKY.

It's ridiculous to think that humans will die because we won't have oil.

Need I bring up the previous 2-5 THOUSAND years of human history before we had an oil-dependant economy in the US? And there are many places where oil isn't dependant.