Reading this I get the feeling that Dan is missing a major selection bias: he has extremely high standards and is very competent, and tends to be friends with p

Reading this I get the feeling that Dan is missing a major selection bias: he has extremely high standards and is very competent, and tends to be friends with people who also have very high standards and who are competent. It stands to reason that he and the people he interacts with are going to build things of higher quality than whatever is commonly available.