Let's see...we have the pre-coated dry glass plate destruction of wet plates, the flexible sheet film destruction of glass plates, the roll-film destruction of sheet film, etc etc. Forgot about Daguerreotypes and many others.
In photography as everywhere destruction is the norm, only thing different today is the rate of change. What will destroy digital...don't know but I bet it won't take long and it will create a minor but impassioned Luddite-esque digital forum here. Maybe we'll be able to record and transmit the very images we perceive in our visual cortex, including all sensations and emotions connected with the instant of viewing. In which case you are warned to turn off the lumbar area sensation channel before looking at my mental images.