Such an interesting topic - couldn't just watch from the fence on this one...
An airline pilot today works with very different "tools" to that of someone flying the same route/s 50 years ago...so where will we be in another 50 years? Given the undoubted improvement/enhancement/future invention of aircraft systems, the role of the pilot as we understand it today has to change - but to what?
Personally, I think there will always be someone on board who'll be referred to as the aircraft's "Captain", but like a ship, he/she does not necessarily need to personally drive it. As has been pointed out, even the current generation flight control systems can do a better job than most humans...even when an a/c suffers major structural damage, the FBW can do amazing things...and if it got really bad, how about a direct feed to the flight test pilots/engineers at the manufacturer who could quickly analyse the situation and provide input back to the a/c and/or "Captain"?
Of course when everything is ops normal, our a/c "Captain" would probably be more like the Cabin Manager we know of today, mingling with pax (or not) and ensuring they're kept happy/entertained (but probably still dealing with IFE problems), whilst a bunch of systems "engineers" (read computers) on the ground monitor the flight progress and flag/report back any abnormalities to the "crew".
Stuff of dreams? Certainly in the short term, but in 50 years?
BTW, I don't necessarily like the concept, but progress is inevitable...
