Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't think of it as "config". Think of it as input, to a global network of inter-dependent distributed decentralized programs, which control other programs, that then change inputs, that change the programs again, and which are never "off", but always just shifting where bits are. Imagine a cloud-based web application. You've got your app code, and let's say an embedded HTTP server. The code needs to run somewhere,…
Sure I think that’s a good way to think of it. When you do, it seems odd that you’d accept the possibility of inputs that can stop the entire system working to the extent that no new inputs can be tried for hours. In retrospect, that’s a mistake. There are other ways to control change and limit breakage other than just tests - dev networks at smaller scale, canaries, truly segregated networks, truly separate control…
Fwiw, that's what web browsers do; they download code that generates code and runs it, and every request-response has different variables that result in different outcomes.
And again, it's really not "config", it's input to a distributed system. It's not "infrastructure", it's a network of distributed applications. These can be developed to a high standard, but you need people with PhDs using Matlab to generate code with all the fail-safes for all the conditions that have been mapped out and simulated. Writing all that software is extremely expensive and time-consuming. In the end, nobody's going to hire people with PhDs to spend 3 years to develop fool-proof software just to change what S3 bucket an app's code is stored in. We have shitty tools and we do what we can with them.
Let's take it further, and compare it to road infrastructure. A road is very complex! The qualities of the environment and the construction of the road directly affect the conditions that can result in traffic collisions, bridge collapse, sink holes. But we don't hire material scientists and mechanical engineers to design and implement every road we build (or at least, it doesn't seem that way from the roads I've seen). You also need to constantly monitor the road to prevent disrepair. But we don't do that, and over time, poor maintenance results in them falling apart. But the roads work "well enough" for most cases.
Over time we improve the best practices of how we build roads, and they get better, just like our systems do. Our roads were dirt and cobblestone, and now they're asphalt and concrete. We've switched from having smaller, centralized services to larger, more decentralized ones. These advances in technology mean more complexity, which leads to more failure. Over time we'll improve the practice of running these things, but for now they're good enough.