He sounds like he has a chip on his shoulder. Did he go through Cranwell looking for a pilot commission once??
In the very long term future we might see single pilot operation with one standby, and perhaps eventually in centuries to come, none. But I have to say that I'm an engineering student so understand the tech, and ignoring the fact that I want to fly I still would rather have a pilot sitting up there. And I'm an open-minded guy! It would take much time and adjustment for the market to build the sort of trust that customers must have in the system to loan their lives to something they associate with regular 'crashes'.
Andy