For example, it's not like oil is going to disappear overnight. When gas prices get up to 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 dollars a gallon... at some point, people are definitely going to start buying electric cars. Same goes for trucks, ships, everything else that uses oil. But innovation to make alternatives available isn't going to happen until market forces make it profitable.
For pretty much any location in the world outside of perhaps France an "electric" car is, in most cases, a coal powered car. There is far too much coal in the ground for it to run out in the near future, market rates alone aren't going to get rid of coal power plants.
> There is far too much coal in the ground for it to run out in the near future
And "640K should be enough for anyone," right? The idea that something will never 'run out' is usually predicated on the assumption that consumption levels will remain the same (or at least only increase linearly rather than exponentially).
For example, it's not like oil is going to disappear overnight. When gas prices get up to 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 dollars a gallon... at some point, people are definitely going to start buying electric cars. Same goes for trucks, ships, everything else that uses oil. But innovation to make alternatives available isn't going to happen until market forces make it profitable.