Yep, this is called “nostalgia”, like enjoying a nice piece of classic jazz by Ella Fitzgerald, or of Paganini by Yehudi Menuhin.
I think we are not more unsafe today than 30 years ago, even if the wiz kids in front have 5000 hours of button punching, as long as they push the buttons in good sequence, read the NNC from left to right and top to bottom when crap hit the fan, and print all the ACARS messages they get during cruise.
And it will get better, I am sure! Someday, still in our lifetime, we will have ACARS controlled aircraft in which, should the pilots collapse in hypoxia or insist to land after half the wet runway length, an automatic MCP altitude swiveller will descend the plane to autoland or go around with thrust lever in idle, and all those sort of things. This will save more money for every one (Pax and CEO) and will make it still safer.
There will still be “pilots” sitting in front though as no freight forwarder would ever thrust his pallets to an airplanes with no one in front to sign the release (in case of…) for insurance; as for the passengers, if it is cheap enough, they would even board a plane without wings nor engine, as long as there is the booze available in the galley. Amazingly, they would be ready to pay more for the booze than for the flight ticket. Me, as soon as retire, I will travel by train and ship only. Time will not be a factor anymore.