I find that catch-phrase a little hard to swallow. Try telling it to the guy installing a new roof on your house.

We live in an age where what passes as the most cutting edge software amounts to new ways of sharing photos of your lunch.

And yet, we can use software to make a difference in the physcial world too. There have been many more shortages of commodity foods in recent years. In 2010 Russia had to ban grain exports after a crippling drought. Perhaps automation of irrigation and fertilizer could have helped make a difference.

On the other end of the spectrum, high intensity wastewater treatment can only be accomplished with advanced process controls. Sewage flows that once would have taken dozens of acres of lagoons can now be treated in a small building, with the resulting water being near-drinkable quality-- but without automation it would be impossible.

Complicated systems like these do have something in common: They are designed to run themselves 90% of the time, but they still need humans to grasp the overall picture. Unfortunately, operators don't always understand what the engineers built! That's where training becomes important. For every newly built, highly advanced water treatment system, there is a overworked plant operator with a steep learning curve ahead of them. Typically, they get a few hours of classroom training, followed by "sink or swim" training (learning on the job), but oftentimes this leads to equipment that's not run properly and needs to be replaced too soon.

Interactive training using using software (e.g. simulators) to train plant operators could result in a lot of money saved. Every dollar spent on training might prevent $10 in repairs, downtime, and employee turnover.