Thank you, colleagues, for some thought-provoking responses so far.
May I ask now, what do we consider are the reasons for the sea change in our industry? I shan't offer possibilities, but would rather hear your views. Please do get involved and post here - I'd love to hear your views.
flufdriver, your post in particular is in line with some free-ranging thinking I have done. I think ten years is probably on the short side, and that there will be very few executive aircraft as the skies will be so crowded as to make them prohibitively expensive even for the fabulously-weathly. Also, crews sitting in simulators will be doing take-offs and landings only and will be cut into the loop for non-normals in flight. The ratio of flight-deck crews in simulators to aircraft flying will be much lower than you guesstimate. I predict around one flight deck crew per thirty aircraft.
On the other hand, it's worth re-reading the threads in the Test Flying forum about the Shuttle accident, and remembering that space travel is experimental - the potential rewards are amazing, but the possible hazards great, and the achieved level of safety very poor relative to commercial air transport.
Also, how do those of us who are 'too old' to change careers feel? Are you stuck in a trap of high earnings but poor lifestyle? Would you do something different if you were ten/twenty years younger?