There are romantic arguments to be made on both sides here - historians saying that something is lost when this transformation happens, and that this is simply

There are romantic arguments to be made on both sides here - historians saying that something is lost when this transformation happens, and that this is simply progress that people react to positively on the side of the doers. Both of those seem misguided and rooted in one paradigm or the other. When I think about the tangible effects of something like this, I don’t see many downsides. One thing that sticks in my mind - how easy it is for people to look at photos and videos from, for example, the Holocaust, and say “wow, the world was so very messed up way, way back then.” The technology of the time isn’t telling the story in the full fidelity of those who lived it. Instead, it looks nothing like the reality that it was, and makes it feel further removed. Fine as an art form, but not a service to reality.