This paper suggests that as oil supplies run out and prices rise in the knowledge economy, an education system is needed that is based on information technology rather than on transport and building technologies to provide an alternate resource for sustained economic growth. The world is at a tipping point where it is running out of oil, but not people. It is argued that the knowledge society will be based on the infinite resources of the world-its people. We need to tap and develop this resource through education and training and so move from peak oil to the production of peak people. The key driver of change is going to be innovative rethinking on how people are educated for an unpredictable, information technology-based future. The current debate under the rubric of globalisation is on peak oil, and a clear contradiction between peak oil theory, the continual increase in oil reserves and production, and the rising cost. Peter Huber and Mark Mills (2005) argue that the price of oil remains high because the cost of oil remains so low. We are not dependent on the Middle East for oil because the world s supplies are diminishing, but because it is more profitable to tap Middle East supplies. New sources are not being explored and new refineries not being built (Huber and Mills, 2005). Since the industrial revolution, world economies have run on oil. Societies have been through 'peaks' in critical resources throughout history, only to be saved by some human ingenuity and discovery of a new and 'inexhaustible 'resource. It was oil that 'rescued' civilisation to deal with sustainable economic growth. Can highly educated peak people do the same? As the price of oil worldwide continues to soar, societies globally struggle to find alternative fuels that range from coal, solar, wind farms and nuclear energy to drive their economies. But these are still expensive, and the means to exploit alternative energy using technology remain oil fed. That oil will run out is certain; only the timing is not. However, when oil does run out or becomes unaffordable particularly for the developing nations and their growing populations, its decline will change theworldinradicalandunpredictable ways. Perhaps even more concerning is that because oil is a strategic resource, as supplies become scarce, societies are witnessing increasing geopolitical and global conflicts, environmental deterioration, pandemics and ideological and cultural clashes. Oil created the industrial society as we know it, but at the dawn of the knowledge society, it is a finite resource. Around the world, societies now believe that their future advancement can no longer only depend on their land, climate and extractive fuels, but rather upon the peak capability of their people. Therefore, with knowledge as competitive advantage, education for human resources development will be the engine that drives the global economy.
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机译：本文建议，随着石油供应的枯竭以及知识经济中的价格上涨，需要一种基于信息技术而不是基于运输和建筑技术的教育系统，以为经济的持续增长提供替代资源。世界正处在耗尽石油的临界点，而不是人。有人认为，知识社会将建立在世界人民无限资源的基础上。我们需要通过教育和培训来利用和开发这种资源，因此要从石油高峰转向生产高峰人口。变革的主要驱动力将是创新性的反思，重新思考如何为人们带来不可预测的，基于信息技术的未来的教育。当前在全球化主题下的争论是关于石油峰值，以及石油峰值理论，石油储量和产量的持续增长以及成本上升之间的明显矛盾。彼得·胡伯和马克·米尔斯（Peter Huber and Mark Mills，2005）认为，石油价格仍然很高，因为石油成本仍然很低。我们不依赖中东来获取石油，因为世界的供应正在减少，而是因为利用中东供应更有利可图。没有探索新的资源，也没有建立新的炼油厂（Huber and Mills，2005）。自工业革命以来，世界经济一直以石油为生。在整个历史中，社会一直通过“高峰”来使用关键资源，而人类的独创性和发现了一种新的“取之不尽”的资源，才使社会得以保存。是石油“拯救”了文明以应对可持续的经济增长。受过高等教育的巅峰人士也可以这样做吗？随着全球石油价格的持续飙升，全球社会努力寻找替代燃料，包括煤炭，太阳能，风电场和核能，以推动其经济发展。但是这些仍然很昂贵，并且使用技术开发替代能源的方法仍然是石油。石油肯定会耗尽。只有时机不对。但是，当石油确实耗尽或变得难以承受时，特别是对于发展中国家及其增长的人口而言，石油的下降将改变世界的世界。也许更令人担忧的是，由于石油是一种战略资源，随着供应的稀缺，社会正在目睹越来越多的地缘政治和全球冲突，环境恶化，流行病以及意识形态和文化冲突。石油创造了我们所知的工业社会，但是在知识社会诞生之初，它是一种有限的资源。在世界各地，社会现在认为，其未来的发展不再仅仅取决于其土地，气候和采掘燃料，而是取决于其人民的最高能力。因此，以知识为竞争优势，人力资源开发教育将成为驱动全球经济的引擎。
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