flea markets - replaced by eBay
personal stock brokers - replaced by on-line stock trading
But what *should* be replaced by new technology and what *will* be replaced are different beasts altogether...
For instance:
car dealerships (manufacturers are prohibited by law from selling direct to bypass dealerships)
Casinos (internet gambling is illegal...not technically impossible)
Unions
Middle Management
Car inspections (On-Star self-diagnostics and email, anyone?!)
Phone numbers (remember back when we had internet numbers instead of names for email addresses?!)
That's blasphemy! Flea markets are a cult religion...it's not what you buy, it is the experience...and PayPal sucks!
I don’t know if casinos should disappear. Gambling is more fun when it’s social, and frankly no one should trust a computerized house, and way don’t trust computerized physics for games like craps or roulette. And car dealerships should never be replaced by online, not because they’re so awesome but because you should always test drive a car before buying it.
And I don’t think flea markets will be replaced by anything, flea markets are really an impulse shopping thing, E-Bay is a hard place to wander around in. Online shopping is geared towards you deciding what you want to look for then looking for it, flea markets are geared towards you not knowing what you want and seeing something that looks cool.