Gettin' a little slippery with the numbers, there. Over-simplifying, what? We haven't been

The Lower Paleolithic predates Homo sapiens, beginning with Homo habilis and the earliest use of stone tools some 2.5 million years ago. Homo sapiens originated some 200,000 years ago.

IF you count 25 years to a generation, h. sapiens has been toddling around for 8,000 generations. And bear in mind thatit has only been abouyt 12 thousand years since the end of the Ice Age, and only about ten thousand since the beginnings of agriculture which really marks the turn of civilization toward industry dependent on and the major trends accompanying it. Around the time of the Sumerian civilization, say. So if you measure from there, we're only talking about 400 generations. And the very earliest known use of petroleum was around 4500 years ago in ancient Babylon. So our consumption of oil should be measured over that period, or 180 generations.

As regards the total amount of oil left on the planet, it is not likely to be extracted inexpensively. We're not talking about back yard gushers. Converting shale, or drilling a hundred miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, are not likely to bring in oil in sufficient volume at a low enough cost to take the sting out of the economy. ANd they can't be on line for a number of years. Ask Q about this.






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