Bolvae made a pretty fundamental point when he noted that the gubmint doesn't really have the money to fund an all-out technology revolution; actually, the only people who would even bother are the oil monopolies. I'd imagine that when resources become scarce and it costs too much to find/process oil, the oil companies will switch immediately to other means to get energy, and be leading entrepreneurs in the field. Then your 'technological revolution' takes place. A new mindset overcomes the people, they elect officials to Congress and to the court system to protect developmental energy from any remaining oil war machines, and we progress.

I'll agree with you in that we've hit gridlock in terms of technological development, because of the big-oil-money lobbyists in Washington and corporate lawyers in the courts, so everything will sit at a standstill. Everything has to stagnate before we're impelled to do anything. I mean, look at the civil rights movement -- shoulda took place right as America was created, but the system was too powerful. A little patience went a long way, though. People became more and more pissed, and an upheaval of that system took place.

As long as we keep trying to push for developmental energy plans (gubmint-endorsed research would be a HELLUVA lot better than our dumbass plan to send more NASA dumbshits to the moon), we might be able to bring about said 'technological reformation' out sooner than you realize.

And think about the market for this stuff once it's out. I'd put some stock into that shit, wouldn't you?