The MEL was much thicker, not because we were smarter than the computers which monitor and/or control the various systems, but because we had more options open to us.
I have the utmost respect for the skills and abilities of most flight engineers but I have to disagree with that statement.
There were not 'more options' but there were far less sophisticated systems which needed more human input to deal with than current systems. Design and development has led us to a point where engineers are not needed to handle systems and system malfunctions and all the arguments being espoused here are actually for a third pair of trained eyes. That is neither practical nor affordable.