And I could make the argument (strongly) that the energy quality of oil is higher than human labor...;)

I think you mean that the thinking of human beings is often of a thicker quality than crude...;)

While interesting as a fun comparison it is just that attitude of looking at energy as a be all and end all that has got us where we are. Trade me one willing worker (for his lifetime) for a D9 cat (and all the diesel it can use in it's lifetime) and look at the different world you and I will produce.

"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -- Elbert Hubbard

Unfortunately we have way too many ordinary men and their machines doing things we do not need and not enough extraordinary people doing without machines what needs doing.

"Ordinary men are made not born." -- anon ;)

Some men are born mediocre and some men have mediocracy foisted upon them.

Some men don't count and some men can't count ... 2 7? 3 4

(Just in jest robert2734, merely to see if this thread of nit wittery will continue:)