https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHs6uGhj41M
Cars already have this sort of thing - anti-lock brakes, traction control, differential braking, etc. All the computer working to make it easier for the driver.
I think the decision to use MCAS to avoid retraining pilots was a bad one in hindsight, but it's just one of many situations where we use computers to assist pilots/drivers with this sort of task.
Without it, the max is like a very badly designed fighter jet.
MCAS was added so the minor differences in how it flies could be adjusted away by computer to avoid needing to retrain pilots already certified for the 737-NG.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-boeing-737-ma...
> Boeing put MCAS on the plane not to make it stable in maneuvers approaching a stall but to make it handle and feel exactly the same as the earlier model 737NG.
> “If MCAS is deactivated, you can still fly the aircraft and it is not unstable,” said Fehrm. “The Max without MCAS is a perfectly flyable aircraft.”
Cite: FARs §25.173, §25.175.
That's an entirely different claim, though, than this:
> Without it, the max is like a very badly designed fighter jet.
Boeing isn't taking the "get rid of MCAS" approach, they're taking the "fix MCAS" one. If they wanted to get rid of MCAS, though, they'd have to apply for a new cert, without the "737-NG pilots can fly it just fine" piggybacking they did - pilots would have to be trained to the new aircraft type.