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by chmod600 841 days ago
I think the point was that code is not inherently limited in the same way as other kinds of engineering.

If you tell someone to engineer you the arm for positioning a desk lamp, they aren't going to give you the hydraulic arm for a 12-ton backhoe without anyone noticing. There are physical and cost constraints that will prevent that from happening pretty quickly.

In software, there are no comparable constraints. A few MiB of software contains extraordinary amounts of complexity but could easily fly under the radar and ship, and then become a maintenance nightmare.