No I totally see your point I think people are too unfair to programmers in general - seeing software as a cost center and not appreciating the complexity or difficulty inherent in it - and I get how even the question suggests a kind of negative stereotype that might damage people's interactions with non-programmers, for sure.
I came at it from a more positive viewpoint - not of the connection with complexity being a bad thing, but just exploring the dynamic and wondering what it means for us. I think a lot of the answers are really interesting tales born from that experience of working with it day to day, and I think wrestling with the complexity of the world is central to what we do. Celebrate our heroic victory, dance with the complexity of the world! :)
I came at it from a more positive viewpoint - not of the connection with complexity being a bad thing, but just exploring the dynamic and wondering what it means for us. I think a lot of the answers are really interesting tales born from that experience of working with it day to day, and I think wrestling with the complexity of the world is central to what we do. Celebrate our heroic victory, dance with the complexity of the world! :)