Originally Posted by TimetoClimb

I believe the entire world economy will be transformed by automation before it takes over the cockpit. There will be millions displaced by robot labor before we are and the world will look entirely differnt at that point. Maybe a small fraction on the population that works today will be running the system. I strongly doubt flying is in the top ten occupations on the chopping block.
Think about it this way: the plane still has to be full of paying passengers, how will all those passengers pay if they are out of work? The entire labor force will be subject to these changes, but pilot labor will be one of the last to go. Might be 50-100yrs ?