I have had this very conversation myself, many times.

It's remarkably similar to talking to economists about growth and thermodynamics.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/09/14/software-is-a-long-con/

I had a conversation with a bridge engineer one evening not long ago. I said, “Bridges, they are nice, and vital, but they fall down a lot.”

He looked at me with a well-worn frustration and replied, “Falling down is what bridges do. It’s the fate of all bridges to fall down, if you don’t understand that, you don’t understand bridges.”