QF 32/BA 38/US1549 are incidents where automation would not have done a damn thing, yet humans managed to walk some 1000 people collectively from pending death.
So wait, just because all accidents can't be avoided with increased automation, means it's a fool's errand? Do you skip wearing a seatbelt just because seatbelts can't protect you against death in all accidents? No one is arguing that automation can protect against ALL failures, we're just saying that there are SOME failures not yet protected against, that reasonably could be.
I agree with previous comments that the pilot of the future may be seen as more of a "systems administrator" - system administrators still need to take action in abnormal situations, but it will come to the point where hand flying skills are not the most critical aspect of this.
I fully agree that we are decades away from full automation. But accidents like this one will form part of the case for increased automation, not against it, in the long run.