What suprises me is that as pilots we seem to relish the dumbing down of our profession. People do not naturally adapt to 35,000 feet, move at 1000kph and cope with temperatures at -56 deg C. It is an environment very like the sea. Unforgiving and quick to extract a price on the foolhardy. Whether it is is boeing or airbus (and I have my own view) surely recognising that the man in the left seat or right are as valuable as the latest whizz bankg gadget.
A well trained pilot is the final chance to avoid a catasptophic disaster. We as people are falllible. As professional pilots we all know this and try to mitigate it. Experience is important. Why is is that in aviation, it is deemed less relevant when compared to say a CEO how experienced a pilot is? The better trained, respected and experienced a pilot, surely the better the safety outcome.
To rely on a programmed set of outcomes to with the exclusion of the human being may make for a reduction in training budgets. To assume though that training and experience are big costs, trying having an accident.