"you get into the thorny problem of whether we have this unsustainable energy/technology because of the mindset that came up with them, or whether the material conditions brought about by the adoption of this energy/technology caused that mindset" We had the mindset first you don't exploit a resource without realising that your exploiting it...at first to do something...to cement the privilege of the bourgeoisie under any system that would have them... (remarkably successful strategy it's even worked in China under "communism"), and then by continuing to use it after you have become properly aware of its finite nature...