If hydrocarbons weren't present on earth, would humans EVER be able to develop/industrialize?

[There]

Pretty simple question. I know most agree that we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are now without hydrocarbons. But without them, would we ever be able to develop to this point? Could we start using renewable energy without this intermediate step?

[Heated Bread]

Life as we know it on earth couldn't exist in the first place without the combination of hydrogen and carbon, so I'm going to say no.  Maybe we'd be silicon based?  But then we wouldn't be human, would we?

[Mike Hawk]

My chemistry is a little rusty but I'm pretty sure hydrocarbons make up all if not most functional groups, and without them we would essentially have no source of fuel. But as humans we learn and adapt, and we'd probably find ways of making water or solar energy a more viable alternative for fuel. We would probably end up being the same or possibly further by knowing more efficient ways of developing and using energy. 

[Pwndaz!]

I'm pretty sure we'd be silicon or another low # non-metal based, but I'm sure life would be much more fragile and less robust because of it.

[rxgHyperion]

I'm gonna agree with Bread and Pwndaz and say that we'd be silicon based, but we wouldn't be human as much as something from Star Trek.

[There]

Oops, you guys didn't seem to get my question. Or I worded it poorly. I mean, if hydrocarbon based fossil fuels didn't exist (such as gasoline, coal, and whatnot).

[Pwndaz!]

Oops, you guys didn't seem to get my question. Or I worded it poorly. I mean, if hydrocarbon based fossil fuels didn't exist (such as gasoline, coal, and whatnot).

My bad haha. Well, we definitely wouldn't be as far as we are today in this particular industry "style" per se, but we might have a completely different industry altogether, with a different layout and style for everything. So it's really a toss-up.

[Heated Bread]

I hate these "what if" games.  Truth be told, there's no way to say for sure.

 

Here's the thing, though.  All of our technology is oil based.  The overwhelming majority of plastics are made from oil.  Plastics are essential for mass produced products, including medical equipment, phones, and personal computers.  Most industrial machines need oil to run.  Air, land, and water transportation of goods requires oil.  We rely on oil at some stage for nearly everything we have.  So what you're really asking is "what if we didn't have all that stuff?"

 

Fuck, I don't know.  Nobody could know that.  Might somebody have come up with something better?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  For starters, just try to go back to a time before mining crude oil became a thing.  Maybe we'd still be killing animals to burn their fat, like whales.  Maybe the human population would be smaller and less technologically advanced.  Or maybe not.  Maybe we'd have discovered a way to make what we need.

 

Look: oil mining was inevitable at some stage, as was the tapping of other hydrocarbon sources.  I don't think you can realistically take that away.  They're a natural outcome of time, biology, and chemistry in general.  So to imagine a world without these things requires one to concoct a situation in which humans were uprooted and transplanted somewhere (another world) without them.  For some reason.  Somehow.

[Splat]

RIP no drugs without hydrocarbons

 

edit: except nitrous oxide and xenon