Don't be to quick to discount the "need" for knowledge. On an aircraft as large and complex as the 747 (never flown it, but vaguely familiar with the systems), which has an electrical system capable of parallel operation knowing what the generators are doing and how they're doing it can and has proved invaluable. The same goes for hydraulic, pneumatic, fuel, and other systems.
My personal opinion is anybody who wants to call themselves "captain" need not only have the knowledge, judgement and experience to fill the seat, but should be able to rebuild the airplane systems from scratch. Remember, they removed the engineer from the 744 (and many other aircraft) because computers were able to do his job, but what replaced the knowledge?