I wonder if with progress of tech someone then came and went "okay new cameras don't need all that shit, they just work, here is your pay cut"...

That is effectively what Uber did. Internet and GPS make taxi companies and “Knowledge” unneeded for taxi drivers. This destroyed local (badly run) monopolies, but also job security for taxi drivers.

This is basically the entire story of the Industrial Revolution.

This never doesn't happen when capital holders control the economy.