drakkar,
You ask the right question. The entre world has slipped past the use of mechanical controls, opting for simple mechanisms, and complex computer code to house the stability.
Examples:
The fuel injection of virtually every car is fly-by-wire, where the sensors know the rpm, temperature, altitude, exhaust, throttle setting (which has no mechanical connection to the fuel valve!) and others. The computations "know" when you back off throttle, when it rains, when you are in the mountains, and they give you ideal control and high economy.
Airport people-movers have entirely automatic controls to run the trains, open the doors, make the announcements, and even shut themselves down for maintenance. No people are involved with the routine operation while thousands of people use them for mass transport.
The latest Boeing and Airbus aircraft have all their handling made up inside their computers, the control surfaces are placed where they make the most sense structurally and drag-wise, and not where they lend the best natural stability.
The latest fighter configurations have no "natural" stability, they derive it all from their computers, and they are unflyable without the computers that quell their bad characteristics.
Those who chase good handling by adding hinges and mechanisms are like those villians in the Jules Verne novels, who use monsterous steam-powered blimps to destroy the world. This is thinking anachronistically (look that one up, its a doozey!)
BTW, light helicopters already use electronics instead of screwy mechanisms, if by "light" we mean a few ounces. Their electronics do all the stabilization, and do it very well. Expect someone soon to introduce this as the new means to control a light helo, it is coming. The investment right now is too big, but only because of certification. The electronic control system for a helicopter could cost 10% of the cost to machine the control rods of today's light helos, if the controls were made in large enough quantities. The controls for a modern computer-controlled elevator (one axis of the 6 axies a helo needs) cost about $10 to build.
Regarding what we can expect with computer controls, I wrote an article or two on the Comanche controls, I will try to dig them up and post them. A non-pilot could lift Comanche to a hover, move precisely in any direction, and land again without any training. It didn't just fly like an airplane, it flew like a dream.