Test harnesses are a standard procedure—but they are not the only kind of test.
Basically, unless you are playing chess, or something, if you don’t test in the real world, you won’t really know if it works—and it can’t do much to help you do important things—like raise funds to fuel development.
Didn’t David Chalmers propose that here:
http://www.vimeo.com/7320820
...?
Test harnesses are a standard procedure—but they are not the only kind of test.
Basically, unless you are playing chess, or something, if you don’t test in the real world, you won’t really know if it works—and it can’t do much to help you do important things—like raise funds to fuel development.