Very well explained, as usual. I surely just don't let any autopilot at the SOOC controls. I change any number of the settings you list for just about every situation. I was implying that once the shutter is pressed for the in-camera JPEG, the computer takes over from there, even if I do make minor adjustments with the compressed image afterwards. I also save the RAW for those few times I can't get the SOOC to do what I was attempting to pre-visualize at the time. For my amateur work, though, adjusting the SOOC controls is usually adequate.

SOOC does not have to be "on autopilot... solely by computer with no one at the controls."

There is a concept that professionals often use called "pre-processing." It involves mentally analyzing a scene, making careful light readings, then setting all of the camera's menu settings to process a JPEG as best as it can be processed with the tools available in the camera, and with white balance tools used with the camera white balance and exposure tools.

There may be an infinite range of control with raw image processing software, but there are quite a lot of controls in the camera, many with fine adjustments:

Exposure:

ISO
Shutter Speed
Aperture
Auto Bracket
Auto HDR on some models
Metering Modes and Metering Sensor Location Selection
Exposure Compensation

White Balance:

Custom White Balance (using a reference target or filter)
Kelvin Temperature setting
Pre-sets (Daylight, Flash, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Shade, Incandescent...)

ICC Profile (sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998)

Picture Style or Photo Style (Standard, Vivid, Neutral or Natural, Landscape or Scenery, Portrait, Monochrome, Cinelike V, Cinelike D, Custom...)

Sharpness
Noise Reduction
Saturation
Contrast
Color Tone
Hue
Filter Effect (for B&W or monochrome only — simulates red, yellow, orange, green filters...)

Knowledgeable professionals and advanced amateurs know how to use these controls to match scene conditions fairly accurately. Some photojournalists have to rely on them, because they submit their work to agencies that do not allow the use of raw image capture (to ensure a LACK of image retouching or manipulation, i.e.; to ensure authenticity). Law enforcement officers documenting crime scenes generally work in JPEG mode for the same reasons. School portrait photographers and many other professional studio photographers use JPEG mode because their huge labs have nearly 100% JPEG workflows, and they are using precisely controlled studio lighting, exposure, and white balance.

The reality is that both raw and JPEG workflows are perfectly valid and perfectly acceptable — in different scenarios. There is a time and a place for each. Each may be inferior to the other (or impractical or infeasible) in certain circumstances. JPEG capture DOES NOT have to imply "surrender to the computer," as so many sheep have been led to believe by the YouTube pied pipers of raw.

All that said, given a scene such as the OP displayed, I'd certainly use raw capture. It makes manipulations like he displayed MUCH easier.