Completly agree, Lemurian, I'm the wrong guy to be beaten up.
I just want to tell you that there isn't an imperative incorporation of FBW and automation. To the contrary, "soft-fly-by-wired" aircraft are following a more traditional approach of control technology: Although there is no mechanical linkage, the design is still very similar to "old" cockpit technology: a yaw damper or a stick shaker or a speed limiter is a stand-alone box somewhere alongside the signal stream, and does only interfere when its time has come. It's still not system integration like in modern military solution or like in the Airbus product.
I also agree that only Airbus' way is the way to go - and the longer Boeing is waiting to do something really innovative (I'm no insider of the 787), the more they lag behind.
I'm merely putting down what the topic starter asked or feared. If we can lift the anxiety of some more traditional Aviators we finally get where we want to go: More safety, at lower costs and more environmentally friendly.
Dani