Originally Posted by
flyingchicken
To go out on a bit of a limb, I actually agree with skyhigh's commentary here. Once upon a time it took 5+ men to fly, navigate, and operate a big airliner with its complex systems, engines, sextons and radios. One by one, the radio operators, navigators, and flight engineers were replaced by better and more advanced systems. By the same token today's 2 man airplane is by no means the end of the airliner design evolution. Certaintly automation technology by current standards is nowhere near ready to assume the task of replacing both human pilots, but I can see single pilot airliners, with ground datalink to dispatch as a backup, as a possiblity within my lifetime.
The pilot profession will simply evolve along with the technology. In the future, the experienced "captain" might be sitting in the dispatcher's chair rather than in the left seat, to back up the lone onboard pilot/system operator. It might sound dreadful to us today, but imagine if you ask that same DC-3 driver in skyhigh's example to "operate" in today's environment, with FBW, flight directors, FMS, GPS, moving map, CATIIIB autoland, satcom, dispatchers, locked bullet proof doors, TSA, etc, and he'll probably tell you it sounds awfully dull and to take your so called "pilot" job and shove it too.
On the other hand, one can always look back and complain the "golden age" has passed, but today might just be another "golden age" when you look back from tomorrow - so make the best of it.
Human Progress has always been littered with people who become so entangled with whether they CAN do something while not stoping to think about whether they SHOULD do something.
Perhaps the technology does exist to make a "meatsack" in the cockpit a thing of the past, but is it cost effective, safer, and more reliable? Maybe one day it will be, maybe one day it won't.
So today we'll replace airline pilots, tomorrow we'll replace architects, and the day after that we'll replace surgeons. Let's continue to allow our technology to replace and improve on human ability so that one day there will no longer be the need for careered professionals. Schools and colleges will be a thing of the past since our technological advancements will take care of all our desires and needs.
I'm speaking out of sarcastic context to illustrate my point, machines will NEVER be able to make decisions. Whether your flying a DC-3 with a crew of 4 in 1950, or setting off on a Trans-Atlantic Europe flight in a state-of-the-art B-777, the skills of prudent judgment, decision making, and comprehensive planning are all human abilities.