I agree that the software shouldn’t have more priority than the pilots. I don’t think any autopiloting should cut in automatically at all. If the plane’s behavior is so erratic as to require it, then there’s a problem with the aerodynamics of the plane itself. In this case it’s so slight that it’s not even needed.
The Max planes are misleadingly called 737s when in fact they are a major re-design. The wings had to be shifted forward to accommodate the new engines so it handles differently.
The change in wing position plus the heavier engines apparently gives the nose a tendency to tip up at times, so they decided to add this ‘MCAS’ software to ‘help’ the pilots.
But they didn’t tell the pilots that the MCAS was there, and they obviously didn’t limit it only to times when the plane has a lot of altitude, and worst of all they didn’t give the pilots a way to turn the damned thing off when they rotate off.