h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm a teenager. By the time I'm ust starting to worry about retirement, all the petrolium in the WORLD will be depleted. So, does this mean, as some say, civilization is going to suffer a decline comparable to the fall of Rome after it had no smaller city-states to shake down for cash? When I'm 60, will I have a Flinstones pedal car instead of the Jetsons hover car I've been promised?
I don't think so. As bad as it seems, people who hate big oil companies have been developing alternative fuels for maybe 25 years. When oil falls, we'll shift to whatever the newest and cleanest fuel is. Oil won't be firmly politically or econmonically entrenched anymore. They'll see their power melt away. Or perhaps they'll try to dominate the new fuel market. Whatever happens, society as we know it will be propelled until some celestial catastrophe wipes humanity off the planet because we enjoyed watching movies about space, but not actually venturing out into it to ensure our survival. Ohwell. Babylon 5 was good, wasn't it?