>>13172872correct. In 1790, a single Brit in Newcastle could access usable coal reserves with a pickaxe and the sweat of his brow. In 1820, American farmers would tap into huge oil reserves literally by accident simply by digging post holes for fences. All the easy to access resources have long since been exploited. These same resources are now accessed with enormous and sophisticated machines.
Same goes for metals and rare trace elements.
We have climbed a ladder and removed all the lower rungs below us. If we fall now, there is no getting back up - until new metal deposits and oil reserves form in the earths crust. That will be millions of years - longer than homo sapiens has existed. Who knows what will have evolved by then.
