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This is what I took it to mean. It wouldn't be horrible if Starbucks was the only option for coffee, but take away all the small cafes and you miss out on a lot. There may be some trouble with that analogy but the idea is there's value in specialization.

I think it's referencing middle-out compression.

It's an amazing phrase. AFAICT it doesn't actually mean anything. I certainly understand why such a high-profile developer would choose such a "bland, yet poetic" phrasing; my issue is just with trying to interpret it as somehow insightful.

it pretty clearly meant "code that has been lovingly handcrafted to the specifications of the problem", as opposed to "churned out using a mass-production framework". the analogy works for me.