You can say that I am nuts, but would you dare to say that EADS, Bae Systems, Thales, Rolls Royce, GE Aviation, FAA, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman are too?
fly_antonov: What planet are you on?
These companies are developing unmanned delivery vehicles for the purpose of military missions where risk of injury is exceptionally high. The need for managed human loss limitation is big business: Get it wrong and it can cost you public opinion and an election.
Whilst I am sure there are military pilots reading this forum who no doubt are following UAV developments closer than most, you are applying these military principles to a civilian context. This is a big jump.
The application of UAVs in civilian arenas such as pipeline surveying, traffic reporting, criminal surveillance (god forbid), forest fire management etc... are predominently single pilots ops and still require a pilot - albeit on the ground. Thats an unfortunate side effect of progress and in anycase not everyone (especially in the private sector) could afford this option.
I think this discussion is about passenger carriage rather than specific high risk tasks (such as the military carries out) and for that reason your arguement is out of context.