Also, I don't think we need to keep answering my questions (though I was gratified that no one answered yes to #1). That was done before Matt responded to my other request thread.
I will also say, from their perspective, I can see why they don't want to implement this now. They're building a complex system built on "parts" that they don't directly control (because it uses multiple outside data sources) and they're doing it with a small team. It makes some kind of sense that they don't want to introduce additional complexity right at the outset. Keep It Simple Stupid and all that.
After they have a good, solid, foundation for the system, and they understand all of the problems that entails, they can enable a more advanced solution for edge cases and advanced users. That's just how they built Red October.
That said, I also agree that people are going to be very hesitant to use this unless they can somehow "protect" certain fields (like Keywords and Genre) from meddling. Some kind of setting that just blocks the Auto-Lookup on certain, user-specified fields, when this is turned on, will make it so those people can still use the system until some future "mapping" system is developed.
Otherwise, your only option is to turn it off.