As usual we are the victims of our own success.
When the $hit hits the fan we, as professionals, pride ourselves with just getting on with it, dealing with the problem, however complex it may be, and getting the aircraft down safely.
If the passengers don't notice then we feel we have done our jobs correctly!
I have had malfunctions in aircraft which, if unchecked, would have resulted in departure from controlled flight. For those of us trained to deal with such scenarios it is 'hum drum' and a normal day at the office.
I'm sure none of the companies which employ us would appreciate us coming on to the tannoy and declaring:
'hello ladies and gentlemen, just to let you know we have suffered a hydraulics systems failure, the autopilot has dropped out and we are flying on standby spoilers and flight controls. There is no autoland facility any more and the stabaliser at the rear is no longer controllable. The flight control computers have degraded and will no longer give pitch feedback in the flare and are unable to compensate for the flap loading of the wing. Might be a bump on landing as only half of the systems in the cockpit are working correctly. Enjoy your flight.'
An actual failure in an Airbus that the passengers didn't even notice with a direct law landing at the end of it.
Automation? Ask anyone who's had to put up with the mess that is the Airbus fly by wire system what they think of automation. Yes it will probably come but not for many, many years in the public transport sector.