This is the same thing I was thinking. We write imperfect software because the market (and the law) does not incentivize the significant extra work required for perfect software. Blaming individual engineers or organizations for that doesn't make any sense.

Its because software is always "new"

Imagine if an electricians invented new types of wires for every job they did

I'm not sure why software is the way it is, maybe it will be more like a trade in a few decades...

No it's because a piece of software with a few hundred thousand lines of code has a state space that boggles the mind. And then that software interacts with a dozen other services of similar size. And then new features need to be added every few weeks. It's completely incomparable to wiring up a normal house.

In buildings with nontrivial electrical systems, shit hits the fan really quickly too. Just look at the absolute mess that is the fire prevention system in Berlin's new airport for example.

I see what you're saying, but I think electronics is equally or more complex than software, but over a longer time period

Copper, plastic, other things which I have no authority to talk about, were all complex at one point in time

You do make a good point about scope creep, I wonder if the early days of electronic had a similar problem because nobody knew what they wanted or what was possible?

Very interesting to think about IMO

I'd think so. If you were to install one of Tesla's early first AC motors, it'd sometimes do unexpected things or stop working intermittently, I suppose