I've been following this thread since it opened, and it was with some frustration that I realised that I was flying with an automation dependent captain the other day.
I have often wondered that if you have been drilled right from the start of your airline career as a 200 hour cadet pilot, to make full use of the automatics in the Airbus/737 et al, does that necessarily mean you are brain-washed by default into automation addiction or dependence?
I fear there is a good chance that is the case.