For example, we might want to make sure software used in avionics, aerospace, weapons systems, voting machines, medical devices, cryptography, power plants, policing, finance, etc is carefully engineered. But I agree with your main point that there's still a baseline of competence necessary -- we need both good tooling and good people.

That reminds me of a lament from a friend at the Software Engineering Institute that the profession missed the boat on the kind of licensure most engineering disciplines have. (That is, any software developer can refer to themselves as an "engineer" without taking any tests, accepting any liability, or meeting any other legal requirements.)