What concerns me most here is that the FAA position, even if remotely true, seems to be satisfied with safety levels in a new generation aircraft meeting current aircraft saftey levels.
Not true. There have been numerous updates of the FAR/JARS since 1969 and each "new" aircraft not grandfathered by acceptable service experience has to meet these new standards. Indeed where the technolgy is new and so novel that doubt exist about where it stands relative to historical experience than "special conditions" are proposed that it has to meet. As I recall there were several special conditions that the B777 had to meet beyond the then current certification standards.
The watchdog for such conditions are not only the Regulators but also include other aviation bodies, NASA and the general public through the petition process. So any of you may endorse the disaffected Boeing engineer and put together a technically sound petition to the FAA to issue special conditions against the A380 and the B787