[the invisib1e hand]

...In The Doomsday Myth, Charles Maurice and Charles Smithson show that although doom merchants have been predicting imminent collapse from resource shortages as long as civilization has existed, no nation has ever fallen because of the depletion of a resource. They also show that government intervention has not been the solution to these crises. Instead, freely functioning markets with individuals acting in their own self-interest have eliminated shortages, and averted doomsday. The free market theme is the same one used by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations in 1776, but the need to restate it for new generations is urgent. The authors concluded that a resource-based doomsday will arrive only if we suspend the functioning of free markets.

[Thalos]

How do the authors of The Doomsday Myth account for societies such as Easter Island, the Maya, the Anasazi Indians, or the Greenland Norse? Each of those were wiped out or severely crippled by a depleted resource, either water, trees, or soil nutrients. I personally don't believe in Peak Oil; we keep inventing new ways of getting oil, new ways of using less of it, and new ways of replacing it (think nukes or Brazil's alcohol). However, I also don't believe the statement "no nation has ever fallen because of the depletion of a resource".