Not agreeing with GP, but I think your comparison here is a bit flawed.

Art is a broad concept - it doesn't suggest any specific form or delivery. Software is fairly concrete - it has to be run on a computer.

A more appropriate comparison would be art versus scientific research, or art versus engineering. I think that's a more interesting question, to which I would say: perhaps we could survive without either, but I can't imagine we'd thrive without both.