“The advances in knowledge that are occurring in the oil and gas sector are allowing us to keep energy cheap and abundant. And that’s very good news. We won’t hit peak oil until we hit peak imagination.”

— Robert Bryce

The funny part about this isn't that Bryce actually wrote this, it's that he wrote it in an article he titled "Peak Oil Cult Is Proved Spectacularly Wrong."

In early 2012, I wrote "The only thing more curious than the amount of times you see phrases like 'Oil is created in the minds of men,' is how often these phrases are taken seriously."

No, I don't think Bryce and others like him literally believe that oil is created through some psychic powers or happy thoughts. But his is a worldview that consistently makes him a talking head on Fox News, CNBC, WSJ, but few other places. A master of the same "I'm right, I know I'm right, and I'm not going to let facts stand in the way of me being right" certainty that those networks' talking heads so skillfully employ. Climate Progress said one could spend a lifetime debunking his 2010 book, Power Hungry.

But this is yet another example of the two opposing views of these issues. Over on the pessimist side, are usually the technology people. The geologists and petroleum engineers - aka the actual people doing the work. They are the people predicting problems ahead.

On the other side, are almost always - economists. And no one makes technological advancement seem so simple as an economist. To them, technology will always improve, will always advance, and will do so just in the quantity, quality, and right on time when we need it.

That's the two sides in this debate, one side that says we should soberly study these challenges, determine the risk/probability of bad scenarios, and then plan responses accordingly. While the other side says that we shouldn't study these challenges, that we shouldn't even talk about them - and long before any problems come about, the invisible hand of the free market will save the day with new innovations and advanced technology, just like it has before and will again. "Past performance does not predict future results" is rule one in financial matters, but apparently it works just fine for economists when talking about energy matters.

If Bryce considers Peak Oil people a "cult" - what title does he give to people that shares his fanatical economic beliefs?