[DesuMaiden]

Why were we foolish enough to make our economy and agriculture totally and utterly dependent on oil? This was never a good idea. We shouldn't have made our economy and agriculture totally dependent on oil because oil is a finite resource. We are going to eventually run out of oil. And once we run out of oil, our economy and agriculture is totally screwed. In other words, we ended up screwing ourselves by making ourselves so totally dependent on a finite resource like oil.

In the short term, making ourselves so dependent on such a resource was a good thing because it allowed our population to multiply by several times within just a few decades. But in the long term, making ourselves so dependent on oil was a terrible idea, because once we run out of oil, we are totally screwed. Billions upon billions of people will starve to death when we run out of oil. We should have thought into the long-term, and not made ourselves so totally dependent on oil.

[GHung]

Why? Because mechanical energy slaves became less problematic than real human slaves.

[DesuMaiden]

Why? Because mechanical energy slaves became less problematic than real human slaves.

lol that's true. Why else did we become so utterly dependent on oil?

[Narz]

It was a practical idea at the time, not so much in the long run. Which tends to be how modern humans think.

[DesuMaiden]

It was a practical idea at the time, not so much in the long run. Which tends to be how modern humans think.

Well it is too bad humans only think in the short-term and never in the long-term.

[Logic]

Gasoline started as a by-product of refining kerosene.
The producers were thrilled when a use was wound for this waste product which was useless until then.

And, when a use for it was found, and we started looking for it, we found tons of it.
As people discovered how easy it was, we found more and more uses for it, and cars became more and more common.

With the huge money behind oil, and industry (steel and rail), money started influencing politics back in the 1920s, and continues (especially oil) right through today.

[GHung]

Why else did we become so utterly dependent on oil? Because oil is truly remarkable stuff; liquid sunlight in a can, very portable with many uses. Oil-enabled machines are great equalizers making even the whimpiest among us powerful. I can take a few hundred dollars, get in my truck and travel anywhere I want, even cross a continent in a matter of days without ever breaking a sweat; get on a jet and cross the vast oceans in mere hours; destroy my enemies before they destroy me. That's a mighty thing. Oil is the ultimate drug for our technological fix.

It comes down to how much work we can do and that we are essentially lazy, greedy creatures.

[Ibon]

making ourselves so dependent on such a resource was a good thing because it allowed our population to multiply by several times within just a few decades.

That is not a good thing Desu. That's a bad thing. Allowing ourselves to breed beyond the carrying capacity of our environment has brought about peak oil, climate change, loss of biodiversity and aggravates the likelyhood of pandemics, depletes our marine fisheries and depletes our fresh water supplies etc. Over population constrains resources to the point of making us vulnerable to severe corrections as well as diminishes the value of each of us and our ability to live fulfilling lives in a healthy biosphere. Oil could have been a wonderful empowering comodity that could have sustained us for generations had we not overbred. Instead we bred to 7 billion and it has become a liability.

Peak Oil is a symptom of our overpopulation and in effect caused our over population.

In this regard the consequences of peak oil should be embraced for now we need to look at all the agents that will correct our overpopulation as desirable.

[yellowcanoe]

There are lots of reasons why we became dependent on oil. The main reason would be that most people want to see their standard of living increase and oil was certainly one of the main factors driving the increase in our standard of living since the end of WW II. As far as running out of oil goes, it had been predicted on several occasions in history but the oil industry had always been able to find new and even larger oil fields that would allow consumption to continue and even increase. This is a point that the peak oil deniers frequently make -- since previous forecasts of peak oil didn't come true why should anyone believe it will happen now. There is also a common belief that running out of oil won't be a problem because by then we'll have developed another source of energy. I believe, as I assume you do, that we really are at or approaching peak oil and that we are not going to find a substitute that provides the same energy density, convenience (liquid form) and low cost that oil has.

Peak oil hasn't arrived as soon as I expected. When the price of oil spiked in 2008 I really believed we were at the top and that oil production would soon start to decline. What I and a lot of other peak oil believers didn't count on was that higher oil prices would enable some new supplies of oil. All we've done is bought ourselves more time as things like shale oil are not going to be enough to compensate for the continued depletion of inexpensive oil from conventional oil fields.

What happens to society is going to depend on how quickly oil production declines and at this point in time we really don't have a handle on that. Countries that are entirely dependent on imported oil will presumably get into serious trouble sooner than countries that have a significant amount of oil production.

[Strummer]

Countries that are entirely dependent on imported oil will presumably get into serious trouble sooner than countries that have a significant amount of oil production.

This is already in full swing. It's not a coincidence that the most troublesome european countries are Spain, Greece and Ukraine. It's a combination of a dependence on energy imports and the absence of competitive exports. These countries are at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak and are the first to fall. In the middle are countries like Germany or Japan, which are also heavily dependant on energy imports, but are able to generate enough high-value exports to pay for the imported energy.

[JuanP]

Because it was the easiest thing to do.

[Pops]

Everyone wants more for less, consumers want lower cost so they can buy more stuff. There is always downward price pressure.

Just like every other business farming is about making a profit, and just like everyone else farmers want more too. So they do everything they can to produce more at lower cost. As everyone else said, oil is the killer tech.

[sparky]

.
Agriculture started as a cool way of feeding the family ,production was consumption , no problem
then there was trouble over who get the land or who get the water , the solution was simple ...tribal wars

Some smarty found that if one use specialist warriors under the command of a leader , your team won
the leader and full time warriors had to be fed , the majority not fighting would give each a little bit to the fighting minority

it work for the termites and the ants so that's pretty normal , unfortunately people are bastards
the leaders of those with the weapons and training decided how much they would take
answers as much as they could , those who disagreed were beaten into submission or sacrificed to the gods
specialist producers , like potters , smiths and priests had to be fed too .

the result was how much people a farmer can feed above the number needed to produce the crops
in early society it was rarely above 1 for ten , ten farmers would feed one extra person

a revolution too place in north west Europe around the 15 century , yields increased ten farmers could now feed 3 people
it allowed the rise of dense urban agglomerations and an increase in societies complexity

inventions of chemical fertilisers , machinery , preservation and transport grew for three centuries
until today 2% of the population feed 98% of non farmers , farming has become agribusiness
like mass production has replaced the village smith

So don't ask Why agriculture is oil dependent ,it's not ..... agribusiness IS oil dependent
if you want to go back to sustainability , the 2% will be OK ( more or less ) and the 98% will starve

[GregT]

Why were we foolish enough to make our economy and agriculture totally and utterly dependent on oil?

We weren't. Modern agriculture and economics are a result of fossil fuels. Without fossil fuels both would not exist. We didn't create an economy reliant on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are what created the economy.

[sparky]

.
Good take Greg

[DesuMaiden]

Why were we foolish enough to make our economy and agriculture totally and utterly dependent on oil?

We weren't. Modern agriculture and economics are a result of fossil fuels. Without fossil fuels both would not exist. We didn't create an economy reliant on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are what created the economy.

That's well said.

[Shaved Monkey]

During WW11 the UK was the most productive agriculturally it has ever been.
Most of it was done without oil as it was heavily rationed and need for the war effort.
Most of it was done without young fit men they where getting shot at in Europe.
Most of it was done organically.
Fields were mainly ploughed by hand and steam and horse by elderly men and women.

I watched BBC Doco Wartime Farm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hou91pLDvDs

Downside was fertility dropped over the course of the war because animals were slaughtered because fields producing crops instead of animal feed was considered more efficient.
The lack of manure became a problem and later has led to rare breeds today.

[Pops]

During WW11 the UK was the most productive agriculturally it has ever been.

Stuff like that always jumps out at me. It does your cause no good to quote silly, inaccurate "facts" when a couple clicks show yields are 2-3 times higher now:

[vtsnowedin]

Why were we foolish enough to make our economy and agriculture totally and utterly dependent on oil? .

If you had spent even one day walking behind a horse drawn plow you would not ask such silly questions.

[DesuMaiden]

Why were we foolish enough to make our economy and agriculture totally and utterly dependent on oil? .

If you had spent even one day walking behind a horse drawn plow you would not ask such silly questions.

What is so silly about my question?