All: Please forgive the thread drift in the following, but I wanted to put down some thoughts in response to John's general point about changing skills...
No answer is necessary, John, as the accident rate is acceptably low and the cost savings satisfactorily high.
Where we shall be in ten or twenty years' time, I cannot predict, but I am certain that by then the mean level of intelligence in the flight deck will be far below its current level (which in turn is far below where it was twenty years ago), and the consequences of that cannot be anticipated. Having intelligent people in the flight deck enables airlines to push their agendas effectively, even if those at the front are driving and supporting change unwillingly.
The industry is in a quandry, in a big way. The world of the professional pilot is some way downstream of where the real problems are ...
(I fear you and I are one step from being 'dinosaurs'; we must learn to adapt and survive, with our intellects and goals intact, despite the fact that our qualifications are perceived worthless outside our professional field).