Why software engineers are Libertarians

Software engineers are probably the most libertarian people around. More than half of the software engineers I know are libertarian, or libertarian-leaning. Why? They are super smart, rational people who understand how complex systems work. Law is software, it just runs on a different platform. Software engineers see all the bugs in our system, and how much of our legal software is ineffective, outdated, and counterproductive. They understand that the best software designs are simple and elegant, like our constitution, but that the various upgrades and features we have added over the last 100 years have caused our system to become bloated and inefficient. They have experience with complex interactions between different parts of a system, and know how common unexpected interactions are and how harmful they can be. And they can see that the solution is decentralization of power and emphasis on personal choice and freedom, rather than top-down control.