Did I give the impression that the phenomena was unique to software? Hell, Boeing was a shining example of the principle in action with 737 MAX. Don't get much more "people live and die by us, and we know it (but management set up the culture and incentives to make a deathtrap anyway)." No one to blame of course. These things just happen.

Licensure alone doesn't solve all these ills. And for that matter, once regulatory capture happens, it has a tendency to make things worse due to consolidation pressure.