737Jock
Big topic which I do not wish to trivialise in the least.
However there are two things involved here the first being the question
How safe is (airbus) fly by wire?
and the second the event and all the technicalities that gave rise to the question.
I only feel competent to comment on the question and my response is 'safe enough'. That word 'enough' results from the simple fact of the number of people killed in Airbus accidents compared with those killed in other makes in current use. When I started in the industry wings fell of Electras and fuselages split on Comets in the cruise and that was clearly not safe enough. Today so many people fly so cheaply (and safely) all over the world that their seat on an airliner is just another commodity ruled by market forces. This means (whether we like it or not) that the large amounts of money needed to sgnificantly improve the current safety level cannot be justified commercially and so will not be found. You or I might well be prepared to pay double or treble for a safer seat but you or I are not the market.