Everything beyond the Dewey decimal system is/was pretty unnecessary, imo. We created a way to organize and "quickly" locate information stored in a physical format.
The near complete lack of manual labor has had many long reaching effects on society.
I type this on my brand new flagship phone...
You are assuming everyone lives within a mile of a bus stop and has a safe road with sidewalks or bike lanes to get to that bus stop.
This may not sound like much for someone that doesn't know how involved a fire alarm can be but ...Lightning had struck a large chain hotel and blown up the fire alarm at 5pm or so. By 11pm I had a temporary fire panel installed, temporarily wired, bare minimally programmed and communicating with a central station enough that the guests were safe for almost a week until the actual manufacturer representative could do a full repair. Parts used were a different manufacturer that shouldn't be able to "talk" with the intelligent field devices. Most parts were used spares I had in my truck. Customer was thrilled. Most guys would have just thrown up their hands, said it's dead, notified the fire department and went to sleep.
The fire alarm industry has provided me many days with a sense of accomplishment. It's the best part of the job.
Came to make sure this was here... But man the panic when you find out the pull station DOES cause a deluge... All those pretty people getting soaked in that rainbow colored water, the smell.