"Would YOU really fly in an aircraft where the possibility exists that the systems could freeze and you and your fellow passengers then have absolutely no control over your assured death — possibly with a few hours to prepare for the inevitable?"
Millions do every year......
They are called airbus.
Any fly by wire system has theoretically got that possibility. If you don't understand that, then you are just waffling and have no business on this site.
In any such system, the pilot tells the computer what he would like the computer to do. If the computer crashes, no input will reach the aerodynamic surfaces.
There is no manual backup. If the computers are dead, there are no controls. Period.