I strongly disagree. I work almost exclusively with hand tools as a professional timber framer. There are many things that have to be taken into consideration when comparing power vs. hand.
If power tools have an edge in speed, how do they make up for the substantial additional cost and maintenance? I paid $240 for my boring machine and bit, a mere fraction of the cost of a chain mortiser. How many mortises to break even on that investment? If you look at just the time of the actual boring, they do look impressive, but what you aren't taking into consideration is the time spent adjusting them, lubing them, and having the chain sent out for sharpening. I was involved in a project this summer and all of the mortises were bored with a Mafell. I had to go around cleaning them all up so the tenons would fit. Tools that reference flat and square timbers really lose ground when working timbers that aren't, and in a hurry. Let's save hewn and or riven timbers for another day.
Development of skill set is another area that comes to harm when the over application of power is considered. If we jump from green framer to power tool champion, when do we have time to learn how to "pat the cat" as Tim would say? That would be learning to read and accommodate the grain of the wood. If we divorce ourselves from the craft and force the wood to comply to our perception of what we think it has to offer, then why are we using wood in the first place? We should let the wood tell us how it should best be used.
Having said all that, I don't want you to think I'm a Luddite shunning all things modern and electron dependent. I do use a few power tools here and there when it really makes a difference. For instance I use the HoleHawg in places I dare not risk destroying my boring machine bits, like a nail infested timber. A cordless drill is always handy somewhere about the shop as well for making jigs and fixtures.
denton4th, this is not directed at you personally, it is directed at the concept that a power tool MUST be more effective. We need to think in terms that a power tool MAY be more effective.
