Several screenshots show that a escape key can be placed on the touch bar by apps that need it (e.g. Terminal). There's certainly a good argument that physical

Several screenshots show that a escape key can be placed on the touch bar by apps that need it (e.g. Terminal). There's certainly a good argument that physical keys are better, due to tactile positioning and response. But there's still a virtual escape "key". (And on a related note: Folks could make the same argument about the F13/F14/F15/Help buttons that are traditionally on a Mac keyboard. Or the lack of Print Screen/Break/Scroll Lock from Apple keyboards in general. Keyboard layouts actually do change with time. Heck, look at the "Space Cadet Keyboard" from an MIT Lisp machine to see how much things have changed.)