There is no excuse or justification for an in flight computer to override the pilot’s manual inputs. Don’t even try.
As someone who has designed, built and maintained automated systems where multiple conditions need to be considered and tested it's mind blowing that this MCAS doesn't factor in the pilot or proximity to ground.
From an earlier thread; “Since it operates in situations where the aircraft is under relatively high g load and near stall, a pilot should never see the operation of MCAS. As such, Boeing did not include an MCAS description in its FCOM.” (flight control operations manual) The explainer continues: “In this case, MCAS will trim nose as designed to assist the pilot during recover, likely going unnoticed by the pilot.”
according to a Tuesday report in The Wall Street Journal: “One high-ranking Boeing official said the company had decided against disclosing more details to cockpit crews due to concerns about inundating average pilots with too much information — and significantly more technical data — than they needed or could digest."