I read awhile ago about how every so often a group of scientists get together and try to make predictions about the future. Very often these predictions are doomsday warnings: "We cannot go on living like this!"In the 1800s, scientists believed that if population trends continue and cities grow, that soon there would be a huge problem with horse manure and our cities would be full of them. They of course, forgot to take into account the coming of the *horseless carriage*...the automobile.
The same thing was done back in the 60s or 70s (can't remember) and their prediction was that copper would become the most valuable commodity because of it's use as wires and a conductor. Thanks to fiber optics and the computer age, I can go to the hardware store and buy as much copper wire as I need.
Now, I do not rely on science with any sort of blind faith that somehow some genius somewhere will scream "Eureka!" and invent a solar power cell that is actually efficient. Far from it. However, based on historical trends and the shear speed with which we are able to communicate globally, I know that a better substitute for fossil fuels will come about, and that we will progress.
It is my opinion that disregarding the ingenuity of our species is being quite narrow minded.
