A few disagreements with the EROEI paradigm here:

(1) EROEI for oil didn't even exist before 1800. That's because only in the 1800's was oil first discovered, in I think Oil City, PA.

(2) Oil isn't that easy to use. For example the oil boiler that heats my house has an "igniter" that re-ignites the fuel many times per second. Diesel car and truck engines use the same fuel to achieve the result a different way, running at very high temperature. Refining is a big enough area of knowledge that the whole field of chemical engineering basically grew up around it. So EROEI for oil itself has improved as we've developed these technologies.

(3) Alternative energy from nuclear power has supplanted a significant part of the demand for oil. It will supplant even more. So as brilliant men figure out how to do this, will women become even more asinine?