lifter
I think it is a little foolish to think that flying by hand, doing lots of sectors, flying VFR and doing short field ops is the definition of being a pilot.
Perhaps in your opinion it is, perhaps it was a hundred years ago, but it certainly is not these days.
Being a pilot covers such a vast range of factors so people who want to do the long range and high level of automation flying have equal right to consider that that is what being a pilot is all about these days.
To be totally correct, a pilot is a person who guides a large ship into port.
We are aviators which I suppose describes more than just the flying side of the job.