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Film has become more immune to variations in exposure and processing

True. If I'm not mistaken (I'm speaking here B/W which is what I love to do) the newer films are thin emulsion. Meaning you can't really make use of all the zone system offers.
As for digital for better or worse it is the wave of the future. What gets me excited about this new chip is they put one on a film holder and made an image. Now I'm a large format guy so the idea of being able to get my wista out again causes my heart to go pitter patter.

Look at T-max. You can't push and pull it nearly like Tri-X for example, much less the older films.

It's meant to be immune from lax development times/temperatures - hard to screw it up, but that means your variations in development have less (and less predictable) effects.

And yes, digital is the future, if for no other reason than environmental restrictions.

But with each step toward a more error-free consumer product, the ease of use increases, but the flexibility, the possibility of craftsmanship decreases.

If digital does improve markedly, and perhaps this is the breakthrough necessary, then I'm all for it. And I enjoy the speed and ease of a digital darkroom - but it comes with a definite decrease in quality of the final product.

And, I'm predicting it will be the same story, quicker, easier, lower final quality. For example, video claimed the same thing, but movies on film still have a very noticably superior quality.

BTW, have you ever looked at the detail on a deguerrotype?

Or a large format contact print of Weston? Or what Adams did with Tri-X?

I'm glad that photography has become automatic for the unskilled; I'm sad that it tends to replace the tools that were available for those who wished to develop a personal craft.

It is important that the photo begin in the eye of the photographer, yes, but that eye saw the possibilities using the flexible, malleable and quality of the materials available. It may not be long before those have gone away - unless you wish to make your own.

(Ever seen the book, "The Light Catchers"?)