I don't think it's "dumb" at all. While there is no question that advances in technology have made commercial aviation (in particular) safer overall the simple truth is that the human (read corporate) response to those advances has led to the degradation of many pilots ability to function as an aviator vs. as a systems manager.
So while over all safety is certainly better the percentage of accidents directly attributable to insufficient aviating skills has risen alarmingly.
Flying a complex plane under stress and in a degraded condition is a perishable skill, this is compounded when a systemic discouragement of hand flying skills is culturally institutionalized across the industry resulting in confusing button pushing and knob turning with actually "flying"...