Do you realize how many texts I could send and how much I could be on FB?

The thing that always amazes me is how the military and even civilian aerospace is always a few generations ahead of what you currently see out there everyday. These are the things being designed, tested, refined, conceptualized, and so on. Who's mind wasn't blown when the B2 showed up? To this extent, we'd be downright ignorant to think that Boeing, Airbus and others are not investing in highly automated aircraft that will be single-pilot capable. They may not have it certified as such right out the bat, but you can bet they've done analysis and figured out many of the things we ask questions about on a daily basis. They'd love to have a "single pilot" operation that can be crewed by a pilot and a "helper" like an FA that will serve drinks, but be in the cockpit during critical times. The airplane would be redundant enough with enough auto-land systems that it would be able to function just fine with only the "helper", likely though commands, datalink, or just AI. There are numerous ways around most of the obstacles presented. Sure, the technology isn't ready to be fielded, but I'm sure it's being looked at heavily, behind closed doors, in secret programs, heavily guarded corporate R&D, etc. The step after that would be full automation, and we won't have that for a long while, but the march in that direction is steady.