at a high level as to they 'why', the oil business in particular is pretty nasty or sometimes horrifically nasty (exxon valdez, bp rig explosion, etc). and shipping thick black goo drilled out of the ground often MILES below, and then sending that to refineries hundreds or thousands of miles away, and then sending the refined fuels/oils via ship tankers, truck tankers, or pipelines to where they need to go (often thousands of miles away) seems like a LUDICROUSLY inefficient way to do things, but since there's been no alternative to it, the world has made it work, and it's pretty astonishing. we take for granted filling a car at the conveniently local gas station without thinking of the insane effort it took to make that possible. worse, the environmental damage, not just geological, but obviously emissions too. again, through tech and regulation that's become FAR less of an issue per vehicle/use but the numbers of vehicles, ships, planes, etc. keeps increasing, so it's pretty intractable. container cargo ships criss crossing the world powered by diesel are an environmental obscenity but again, there's been no other options. maybe eventually a hyperloop across the oceans will eliminate a lot of that.

at a high level for EVs or electricity generally, the sun's energy is FREE and we should use it! no digging it out of the ground. no transporting it. it's kind of a no brainer. until recently historically it just hasn't been efficient enough but the tech is improving rapidly and then there's the 'storage problem' for when it's not sunny, but even that is slowly being solved. it's pretty easy on a house, but harder for a large scale use, but in australia and other places tesla and others are building massive battery banks. there will be other solutions.

obviously there's other 'clean' means of creating electricity like hydroelectric, wind, waves, and there no doubt will be others.

so there's the "real case as to WHY" we should a) end mass scale use of fossil fuels and b) switch to electricity.



right but it's not JUST about the US. the whole world has to lessen its reliance on fossil fuels, especially coal. unfortunately china, due to its insatiably growing demand for energy continues to make new coal plants.



see above.



you may well be right on both fronts but that alone doesn't mean we shouldn't do it.



and the FF industry has been honest? only through litigation! again i'm not down on ICE vehicles, and i'm not ready for an EV myself, but that case gets more and more compelling, for more and more people, by the day. arguments against it are a bit like people clinging to land lines or DVDs because they don't like cell phones or streaming video.



you enjoy driving them recreationally. i assume you're not stuck in massive daily slog traffic or other trips that you really don't WANT to take. if anything, COVID has made the country more divided with 'knowledge' workers able to work from home and the rest still having to drive somewhere (or take public transportation) to clean places, make food, tend to the sick, etc. for those who HAVE to drive, self-driving cars will be one of the greatest liberating things ever. even commercial truck drivers, who no doubt will become endangered, will be forced to do something healthier (driving for a living is VERY unhealthy not to mention dangerous). but like you, i enjoy driving my sports car for fun, but thankfully, i don't have to do it every day.



and 10 years ago you couldn't ask your phone "where's the nearest starbucks?" you're truly underestimating (or just not understanding) the pace of change and the coming AI complete transformation of everything for good and bad.



i believe you are doing the same, only seeing it from what car tech is TODAY. in 5 years, it will be completely different.

respectfully, as shown by your love of old 'retro' cars, like evitzee you're not keen on the rapid changes we're seeing, that are coming, like it or not. and again, if there's a cleaner alternative to the oil/gas industry, i'm all for it.

driving does require skill, but as steve points out, not just him, but MOST knowledge workers today need to be available at all hours to respond to texts/emails/virtual meetings/websites, etc. driving becomes simply a waste of time unless it's recreational.

as far as staying sharp, as you say, use any number of the zillion brain training apps, plus physical exercise, plus forums like this!

Awesome post Paul!