> This analogy is great, because your grandchildren will probably not consider gasoline to be a great technology, they'll consider it the thing that caused the wars and the famines.

They will also realize that industrial civilization enabled by gasoline was a necessary step towards the renewable energy utopia they are living in. Developing advanced technology takes a lot of energy.

> They will also realize that industrial civilization enabled by gasoline was a necessary step towards the renewable energy utopia they are living in.

Your grandchildren won't be living in a renewable energy utopia, precisely because you believe that burning fossil fuels is necessary for advancement.

Nothing today indicates that they will be living in a renewable energy utopia. Solar panels and batteries getting cheaper is just not enough.

It is, if they get cheap enough.