this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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Futurology
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Is this list facetious? Or a pop culture reference that I don't get?
Some of these items have existed for thousands of years in non-petrochemical forms (dice, tool racks, tents). Others are currently obsolete, weirdly specific (soap dishes?), or weirdly vague (tubing), or a weird combination of the same (water pipes).
I'm also struggling to understand vitamin capsules. Don't most of those use standard gelatin derived from animal sources? Or fish or vegetable sources? And why vitamins specifically? I've visited several factories that make capsules for vitamins or pharmaceuticals. Is there an additive to the gelatin formula that I'm forgetting? And why specific to vitamins?
I don't know. It's early and this doesn't make sense
This is essentially correct. Vitamin capsules are generally made from gelatin. Vegan ones are generally made from tapioca starch, glycerol, agar, etc. The idea that vitamin capsules are derived from hydrocarbons is probably just HMPC (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, where the hydroxypropylation is done with propylene oxide), which seems rare compared to gelatin.
Well, dice are generally plastic these days. Not bone stone or wood
That list is from https://www.energy.gov/
The point being oil is used in almost everything we have today. To equate it to just gasoline is not understanding how much oil and the industry is intertwined with our lives.
Lowering and going zero for ICE vehicles is absolutely amazing. It does not mean oil will no longer be needed.