Is Photography Dead?

I think we need to define what "photography" is before we can go around saying that it is a dead art form.  This is almost impossible to do, as the definition is different for everyone.  To the traditionalist, the true spirit of photography may be hard to find these days, but to the 12 year old who has just picked up a camera for the first time, photography is just being born.  However, as the years progress, photography is certainly evolving, perhaps just not for the better, depending on your standpoint.  I think now that anyone can go out buy a digital slr for $500, it's become a little  more difficult to be original with making a photograph.  We can snap off 500 photos, pick the best one, edit it, and print it, all in 30 minutes without having to worry about wasting film, going to the darkroom or the one-hour photo, or spending any money.  Photography is becoming faster, easier, cheapher, more predictable, and less original.  I think those are the things that our society as a whole really value these days, and if we partially define art as something that goes against that and makes us think, then yes, I can see a dark path for photography.  But there are certainly still people who will keep the true spirit of the artform alive.