I was told that the 787 A/T was designed as a flight critical DAL A system
Makes sense. But if that worm gear strips, the associated autothrottle fails, which I find astonishing. Likewise the very peculiar decision to have the automation drive switches and levers, instead of having it drive surfaces / commands directly and reflect that afterwards.
(ie, in an RTO the speed brake level is commanded to full up, which demands full speed brake. If that lever or motor fails, the speed brakes don’t deploy. In this case, why not drive the surface directly and have the lever reflect the surface deployment? Likewise the engine start switches, which leave one in a very entertaining scenario if the release solenoid fails after engine start and the switch jams on. This is an aircraft designed in the 21st century, FFS. Don’t get me started on the FLCH trap).
IMHO having flown both Airbus and Boeing types, pilots are very much an “afterthought” in the Boeing design. The controls might not be back-driven in an Airbus, but the aircraft tells you far more about what it’s thinking than any Boeing.