Unfortunately, the correct observations made by Backpacker tend to validate the argument that mass GA will diminish. Fossil fueled GA is a very non environmentally friendly pastime relative to its benefit to society on the whole. Sure, there will always be some of us who assure that we fly, but it won't be because society is supporting it!
I (unhappily) envision a world in the decades to come, where the airliner pilots we will desperately need, will be simulator trained from the beginning, and fly by rote and training, but not at all instinct and experience. The next generation airliners will be automated toward this end. It'll just be different.
Maybe it'll be okay, because by then, every possible scenario of air travel danger will be reprogrammed for automated avoidance. But in the mean time, the very basic hands on, "walk before you run" piloting skills, and experience, which require the use of an airplane at hundreds per hour, will wain from mainstream piloting culture