What will happen to western society if the price of oil keeps going up?

Question

Will all of western civilization collapse? No more transportation? Would we end up going back 200 years in technological development? What do you think?

Answer 1

This one is pretty simple... we will adjust and prosper.  It will force us to innovate and as much as it sucks right now, in the long run everything will go back to equilibrium.

Or maybe I am totally wrong and we will fail misereably, but I doubt it.

Answer 2

why do you even think that only western civilization is affected? it is a global phenomenon. remember people in asia use petrol as well.  

price of oil going up is largely a result of speculation. so it would have to go back down to a more reasonable rate sooner or later. price increases must be supported by actual demand and when the "speculated" demand finaaly collapses prices will fall back

however before this happens my personal belief is that alternative energy sources would be "forced" into usage and instead of going back into the stone age i think humans will invent and innnovate to use other methods of transportation. for instance cars now can run on compressed natural gas or electricity....

so who knows what scientists or inventors when faced with such a pressing issue could come up with

Answer 3

Alternative fuels and battery-powered cars already exist. They just weren't cost-effective. Guess what? They are becoming more and more viable every day the price of oil rises.

Gasoline had a good run when you think about it. Now, we'll evolve to use something else.