If airplanes can fly on autopilot, why can't buildings?

Watson: I was reading David McCullough’s book “The Path Between the Seas”, and when the Chief Engineer for the Panama Canal, John Findley Wallace hired Frank Maltby to take charge of the Atlantic and Pacific Divisions, he told him, “I want you to build up an organization so complete and efficient that you won’t have to do anything but sit on the veranda and smoke good cigars”.

Sounds like a great objective. Can you think of a real life example where this has actually been done, Holmes?

Holmes: The first thing that comes to mind would be the Autopilot System on a commercial airliner. As a matter of fact, about a year ago someone told me that commercial airliners now have the capability to take off, fly to their destination and land completely under computer control, without a flight crew.

Watson: Do you think that’s the real reason they put those signs and locks on the doors to the flight deck? Not for security but because there are no more flight crews and they don’t want anyone to look into the cockpit and find out?

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