[GavinMcG]

Your first quotation is something you're seriously misreading, I think. It's not about using Ruby for everything. It's about not spending time on minor decisions that don't affect the outcomes you're pursuing. And that's what that quote says – nothing about Ruby; everything about pruning down the pointless decisions you need to make as a developer.

> A complete application today isn't just a website. It's a website, a phone app, a car app, a TV, a kiosk, a conversational bot, etc.

I disagree pretty strongly with that. A complete application can be any one of those things. Sure, if you have a need for all of those at once, then Rails isn't going to be your one and only tool. But it could still well be the tool for your complete web application, and at the same time your API server for (some/all) of the other tools.

> DHH admits as much with his closing argument

No, he says that Ruby's beauty is an additional reason to use it. It's hardly an admission that it's all that differentiates Rails from other options.