What will happen if we scale coal/shale/TD up and generally keep the current economic/cultural system running?
1. More farmland and forest land shall be permanently destroyed by urban development. Lots more. Well, depaving can happen, but that is very very unlikely beyond Jan Lundberg's driveway.
2. More groundwater shall be permanently depleted.
3. More topsoil shall be permanently destroyed.
4. More persistent toxins shall be released.
5. Global warming shall accelerate.
6. No urgent (but humane as possible) efforts at population control, many more people to feed. And we are already at peak grain from FAO data...
7. Western (or Chinese, or whoever) imperialism will continue killing people and blowing shit up to keep resources flowing and markets expanding. If not for oil or oil shale (China has suffered a terror attack! And the Chinese government says it was perpetrated by Americans living in the Green River Basin

), then for LNG or rare metals to make computers or coffee or whatever.
And then what happens from 2020 onwards? Repeat steps 1-7.
Except faster. Always faster!!!!
But after 2020, maybe other things will happen like:
A. Drawdown of the Great Lakes to prop up agriculture after the Ogallala Aquifer runs out.
B. Massive quantities of radwaste to store and guard along with our 10000 theoretical breeder nukes. Don't let your guard down-
ever.
C. More of the Earth is permanently contaminated by depleted uranium. I mean, this is truly insane-Iraq and Afghanistan and Kosovo are already covered with radioactive dust-many tons of it.
And then,
Homo colossus will have a much larger demand to satisfy-with demand growth for energy, water, food, and suburban life likely to continue on an indefinite basis.
Seems kinda risky eh? A queasy feeling in the stomach?
I bet if all of those scientists and engineers and economists deliberately embarked on a qualitatively different strategy and people embarked on a qualitative change in assumptions and lifestyle, a large or very large fraction of the consequences of oil depletion could be mitigated.
Of course, I haven't yet. I'm still paying people to kill and destroy for my industrial lifestyle.
Wise man say "However far down the wrong path you have traveled, turn back."