Shopping in the age of mechanization

What triggered this very different column for me was the announcement about the Amazon and Whole Foods merger, and that Amazon would sell Whole Foods items online.
To say I was taken aback is an understatement. You will order the food online and Amazon will deliver it? There will be no live person contact? No squeezing or smelling of fruit to see of it’s ripe enough?  No choosing the best steak in the case? No asking help from the fish man as to which fish is freshest?
If big retail c