Really if you think about it what do pilots do during the duration of a flight? Most critical time is take off and landing. Why not have ground operators take over take off and landings which take a couple minutes each, and then switch to a satalite tracking and control flight? With redundant systems that can take over during storms, etc.
Eventually they will be removing the pilots from this class of plane and replacing them with electronics.
Once that happens we can make them smaller.
Technically, it's difficult to disagree. There's really nothing a pilot can do these days, that a bunch of remotely relays and cameras can do. My problem is still with who's at the other end (on the ground).
Think about it, you're in the plane and a voice comes on and says: "Good morning, this is Ground Control and my name is Mohamad. Today we'll be flying right by the Empire State Building, so have cameras ready to take some reeeeaaal close-ups.