A slight majority (56%) of responders who addressed this question directly felt that countries should have energy independence as a goal, while 44% saw energy interdependence as inevitable or desirable or both in the future. Some of the differences may have been a refl ection of the writers' nationalities; the responses came from 48 countries. While the question as posed is inherently political and economic in nature, both sides also marshaled technical and moral arguments to support their views. Both sides agreed that petroleum would play a decreasing role in the future energy mix, and that conservation and alternative technologies such as renewables, hydrogen, and nuclear would eventually come to the fore. Several responders argued that the choice as posed in the topic question is misleading, and that the real issue is energy security rather than energy independence or interdependence.