Photography is dead - the debate

We all know how technologies have changed the way we work today, but what exactly is photography evolving into? Is it a propagandist tool used beside words in the media? Or merely a form of digital illustration? What are the hidden agendas? Is our consciousness deceived by the imagery we see before us in our everyday lives? Have technologies opened a world up to non-professionals, that now threaten the industry with sub standard images and information, or does it simply make photography more democratic? Does technology allow things to be meddled with too easily, or has technology given us more tools to open our minds to an all new types of art and so therefore create new realities? Is copyright now completely undermined? Has playfulness with imagery enhanced or destroyed truths, beliefs and practices? Is seeing, still believing? Has photography lost its soul?