Hey if you've ever seen folks (esp in the tech industry) talk about how nice new clean tech pushes out obsolete tech

using "fossil fuels killed whaling" as an example

they're full of shit. https://newrepublic.com/article/161016/sea-shanties-whaling-oil

Fossil fuel-driven tech like oil-driven ships & power harpoons accelerated whaling.

Not covered in this article, but before fossil fuels we didn't hunt blue whales bc they were too big & fast for sailing vessels to take on.

Then in the early 20th century fossil era they were almost hunted to extinction for their oil, even though the energy industry had already switched to fossil oil.

They boiled down most of the world's blue whales to make fucking margarine.

People with a lot of $ invested in "obsolete" tech will always find something to do with it.

The switch to fossil fuels didn't end whaling. It accelerated it.

You know what ended whaling?

We banned it.

The end.