Coal, Carboniferous Conditions, and the Rarity of Technological Civilizations

To the point

Lincoln Taiz and colleagues argue that the emergence of detectable technology may depend on coal availability as much as on intelligence, because Earth’s Industrial Revolution relied on coal to enable steel, steam, and later oil and gas, a path that may be rare on other Earth-like planets, echoing Peter Ward's Rare Earth idea and suggesting technosignature prospects depend on planetary history as well as intellect.