We can't afford it with the current pipeline, but perhaps with a better pipeline, we can. Perhaps something more proper and akin to the older engineering disciplines? Or to doctors?

They're doing incredibly important jobs, and spent an appropriate amount of time learning and proving them selves.

Software is now completely critical in so many aspects of the world, and becoming more so. When people's lives are at risk, we can certainly afford 'many years'.

Yes, not everyone is working on perhaps safety-critical systems, but more and more people are. It's not just safety in the physical sense either, but emotional and mental well-being too. Facebook isn't saving potentially affecting lives as how a doctor would (more 'physical'), but social media definitely has emotional and mental effects.