Don Tuite writes:

I figure it's a conspiracy to make flying as much like a video game as
possible.

I suppose you are making a joke, but there may be considerable truth in what
you say.

As computers enter many domains in which they had not previously been used,
the "computer mindset" also tends to pollute those domains, since the ergonomy
of computer software is often a function of the preferences of the developers
who build it. I note that glass cockpits bear a suspicious resemblance to
PC-based interfaces, a likely sign that the developers knew a lot more about
PCs than they did about cockpit designs. The glass cockpits drift towards an
interface that looks like something you'd see on a laptop computer, rather
than something you'd see in a traditional cockpit. I don't think this is a
good thing. Indeed, it is one of my objections to glass cockpits, especially
the highly integrated kind often installed in small aircraft (think G1000).