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> A lot of people say this time is different but I guess when electricy showed up people would've said the same?

No. Electricity didn't raise the skill floor all that much. Certainly nowhere near the human skill ceiling.

> the internet would kill all street level businesses

That was never going to happen overnight, if at all. But online retail (and food delivery, etc) does seem to be slowly but surely eating away at local shops so I think it's within the realm of possibility.

> But online retail (and food delivery, etc) does seem to be slowly but surely eating away at local shops so I think it's within the realm of possibility.

Online retail eating away at local shops is a problem with two aspects - one of which is largely ignored and much more pernicious.

Yes, many people are shopping online which reduces footfall in the town centres. If this were a case of all the existing businesses simply shifting away from physical storefronts to virtual ones it would merely be unfortunate.

What's far worse is that the vast majority of the business that shifted away from a diverse collection of bricks-and-mortar stores now goes through one of a very few online retail giants.

Likewise, a couple of food delivery apps are parasitising takeaway food businesses.

And now we're allowing a handful of AI giants to tollbooth software development.

> That was never going to happen overnight, if at all.

Very easy to say that in hindsight.