[1attice]

Hi ptmx,

The distinguishing characteristic is scale & speed.

The switch to electricity happened over half a century. The switch to the automobile took a similarly long time. There was crossfade. There was time to adjust. There were places (for socioeconomic values of 'places') for skilled professionals to go.

The switch to Uber (from taxi medallions) seems well underway at just the one-decade mark.

Differences in speed & scale yield differences in qualitative impact, in the same way that a nuclear bomb -- which increases speed & scale of destruction, over and against TNT -- produced a whole new circumstance for world powers.

Comparing what is coming to telephony replacing a courier is like comparing Nagasaki to dynamiteing an old tree stump on a farm.