Original sentence: Over the quarter-millennium since, knowledge, technology, commerce, and — concomitantly with these — war have accelerated at a geometric rate, creating the opportunities and perils that now confront the human communities that together inhabit a planet of scarce resources
Edited sentence: A very good example is petroleum.If they were, any shortage of oil supply would disappear.Oil companies from the US and other Western countries are not allowed to operate freely in Russia, Venezuela, Iran, etc.Over the quarter-millennium since, knowledge, technology, commerce, and — concomitantly with these — war have accelerated at a geometric rate, creating the opportunities and perils that now confront the human communities that together inhabit a planet of "scarce resources.While it is fashionable to believe scarce natural resources are a limitation on human progress, in fact all "scarcity" of natural resources is caused by political conditions which prevent the application of the most modern technology