I feel like this misses the point. The reason all the other stuff besides the database is so straightforward is because you can localize all the state in the da

I feel like this misses the point. The reason all the other stuff besides the database is so straightforward is because you can localize all the state in the database so you can deal with the hard parts in one place and with maximum support. The database doesn't ruin all good ideas. It makes all those ideas for other tiers possible.