an activity's being called "software engineering" does not make it any more likely to be a form of engineering than one's being called "armstrong" makes one mor

an activity's being called "software engineering" does not make it any more likely to be a form of engineering than one's being called "armstrong" makes one more likely to be strong. we might as well call it "software writing." it is obvious that lives will depend on some software working as expected. the solution is not to license the writers of the software, but to make sure software doesn't fail in ways that could end lives. a certification scheme doesn't add anything to the solution of this problem if the solution doesn't already exist.