[denton-scratch]

I don't assume that; I simply observe that a toaster doesn't need software, that simple machines are more likely to be reliable than complex machines, and that the ability to run software makes a machine inherently more complex than (say) a clockwork timer.

I have no opinion on how much is too much software. But perhaps if we are employing people to write software for toasters, then we have too many programmers.

[pyth0]

The existence of code in otherwise "dumb" toasters is due to it being cheaper than the analog alternative, simple as. I'm not sure why we're talking about all of these things as though they only exist to keep programmers employed.