[User23]

It occurs to me that large computer programs can also be diabolically complex and nonlinear. Changing a single byte of code can result in a huge change in process behavior.

I generally disdain the temptation to use computer analogies for natural processes too, but in this case your objection isn’t strong.

[AlotOfReading]

Humans tend to limit the complexity of their systems and declare tech debt bankruptcy long before they're comparable to an ecosystem. You certainly could build something distantly comparable (e.g. the internet as a whole), but it's obvious how difficult studying those sorts of systems is.

Exactly how to understand and intervene in complex systems is an active area of multidisciplinary research, not something trivial or remotely well understood.