This is part of the problem with software eating the world: it replaces physical processes which obey physical laws with metaphors, and the only laws metaphors

This is part of the problem with software eating the world: it replaces physical processes which obey physical laws with metaphors, and the only laws metaphors obey are the ones their creators set for them. So they take processes that used to be predictable and repeatable (if unwieldy) and turn them into processes that are easier to work with, but maddeningly unpredictable.