To make a hard distinction between hardware and software, and thinking that all problems can be solved by using strictly one or the other, is a mistake. Master Joel wrote¹ that all abstractions are leaky, and so it is with any working system – any system needs to be a meld between hardware and software, where neither can keep its identity wholly intact. (Writers of) Firmware know this well. Therefore, the Tao cannot exist in either hardware or software, purely by themselves.
To make a hard distinction between hardware and software, and thinking that all problems can be solved by using strictly one or the other, is a mistake. Master Joel wrote¹ that all abstractions are leaky, and so it is with any working system – any system needs to be a meld between hardware and software, where neither can keep its identity wholly intact. (Writers of) Firmware know this well. Therefore, the Tao cannot exist in either hardware or software, purely by themselves.
1) http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/LeakyAbstractions.htm...