Comment by thaumasiotes
3 hours ago
> I imagine this is like how microwaves put restaurants out of business
Didn't happen; no path to it.
> how TTS obviated literacy
Didn't happen; voice messaging seems to be a bigger threat than TTS.
> how the automobile age made it unnecessary to walk
Didn't happen; no path to it, but there is some older science fiction considering the concept.
> how Zoom caused every office to close
Didn't happen; no path to every office closing, but an easy path to closing many of them. We currently see a lot of fighting by employers against this outcome.
> how helicopters put mountaineering firmly behind us
This has indeed happened. This one is a complete process. Mountaineering cannot be described as anything other than a "hobby".
> Amazon obsoleted brick and mortar stores
This has largely happened and is getting worse. Every single time I asked for help with where I'd go to buy something in Shanghai, I got the response "why would you go to a store when you can order it online?". I don't need as much help to know where things should be in the US. But the US has the same problem of stores not bothering to stock items. I don't think much political activity pushes one way or the other on this.
> and payment cards made cash disappear.
This has largely happened and there's a huge political push to go the rest of the way. Governments hate cash.
> Mountaineering cannot be described as anything other than a "hobby".
Mountaineering was only ever a hobby because of how dangerous it was and the lack of a payoff (people instead took the valleys wherever possible). People didn't even try to summit the tallest mountains until 19th and 20th century, because it was a waste of resources and the techniques weren't good enough.
Americans spend 81.0% of their retail dollars in brick-and-mortar stores. Does that figure surprise you?