It follows in a similar sense that mechanisation makes the need for physical strength an stamina redundant; that transport networks make walking, draft wagons, and sailing ships redundant; and that digital computers make arithmetic and pen-and-paper information management redundant.

Given that high levels of literacy are typically limited to less than a quarter of the population, and low-to-nil levels may be the fate of a third to half (I've addressed this in several previous HN submissions and comments on US adult literacy, searches for posts <https://hn.algolia.com/?q=by%3Adredmorbius%20adult%20literac...> and comments <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...>), as well as the tremendous number of people who have to interact in societies in what is not their own mother tongue, there's some merit to this view.

There are of course counterarguments, and I'm highly aware of those as well.