[Dark Fired Tobacco]

While I agree that many of the rare earth applications have a work-around or substitute available, this is not the case with crude oil. There is simply nothing else - wind, solar, etc., — that offers the energy rate of return that oil does. It is a large part of the economic growth we have enjoyed for decades.

Yes, we can do some combination of conservation, drilling at home, alternative sources such as nuclear, and withstand a certain level of oil price increase. At $150 a barrel oil, though, the airline industry contracts dramatically, and major lifestyle changes will be needed. There is a certain irony that the electric cars substitute a depleting energy source (oil) for a rare earth element (lithium).

[GregoryFul]

In theoretical physics it is accepted fact that every point in space abounds with energy. Should we ever become clever enough to extract and harness that energy, we could create any material thing in any quantity, at no cost - just like the big bang did, more or less, spontaneously.

In labs we create lots of novel or even common elements - it's doable, just at great cost now. In 100 years or so, should we survive and thrive, perhaps not.