No one asked if they "should write software they don't need".
You are answering a question that no one would ever ask and you can't answer it because you don't have any other information other than the actual question that was asked.
You are answering a question that no one would ever ask and you can't answer it because you don't have any other information other than the actual question that was asked.
Just because you don't see how it's a good suggestion doesn't mean it's not.
@kqr, thank you for your insights. While it's not exactly relevant to my problem domain (self-driving cars - lots of essential complexity there!), it's still generally useful advice.
Software is expensive to write, but it's even more expensive to maintain. That's why my favorite projects are those that delete large amounts of now-useless code. Not writing it in the first place is an even better alternative.
If someone asks "how do I get to this place" with no other context and the advice is "stay home and do nothing" that doesn't seem patronizing to you?