I was struck by the insanely profligate energy use implied by that vision of the future. Each American would need a personal fusion reactor, or the equivalent share of the national energy grid, to realize all those fantasies.

I was also struck by the stark landscapes in the cartoon--the World of Tomorrow is a desert in that vision! Which makes sense when you consider the problem of waste heat generated by that kind of energy consumption.

Despite Tom's knee-jerk political response, politics had nothing to do with it. Engineers just got smarter, learned finesse, and learned that you can effectively create more resources by using what you have more efficiently. Mindless strip-mining and drilling and exploitation--The Way of the Locust--aren't the only path to prosperity. The world is becoming a better place with the death of that whole philosophy of brute-force engineering and exploitation.

It was a cool cartoon, though, and I enjoyed it too.