What an excellent post by PJ2!
Without getting too anatomorphic the human body and it's autofunctions (high blood-sugar > release insulin) can be compared to a modern aircraft and consciousness to the pilot.
The pilot only becomes aware of the autofunctions when needed (hungry > need to eat > find somewhere to eat) - only then does the pilot need to intervene ("am I REALLY short of gas? > yes/no? - tank transfer failure > fix. Tanks dangerously empty > find nearest airfield [the whys and wherefores can wait]
The aircraft is designed to (more or less) fly itself from A to B, and by design does not tell the pilot the minutiae of what it is doing from moment to moment. Currently only then things get really out of hand does the aircraft inform a rather startled pilot what it has been up to in order to continue flying "as normal" (like autotrim and autothrottle), stops being "clever" and suddenly hands the uninformed pilot a very unstable aircraft at the limits of it's autocapabilities.
The flight-deck is overwhelmed with alarms, some important, others less important, that the pilot has to very rapidly prioritise and deal with appropriately. No wonder s/she does not always do "the Right Thing".
Only very experienced pilots, the Bob Hoover's, de Crespigniny's (with help) and Chuck Yeager's, who are thoroughly familiar with the aircraft that they are flying and with extensive non-auto training can deal with these highly abnormal situations. Just like surgeons in an totally unexpected event.
Few pilots can be trained to such levels and no automation can forsee and deal with every situation.
We must just try and get smarter automation that keeps the pilot better informed and pilots who are better equipped to deal with such situations.
But life being what it is, every year or so we must accept that such events will occur and that we cannot reduce this to zero.
Mac