Maybe this is a reflection of modern tools using the version control system to store built artifacts, like npm and "Go get" do. Anyway, depending on the programming language, you can have a monorepo and still bind your modules with artifact dependecy, not necessarily depending on the code itself.
To quote Andrzej Sapkowski, author of the Witcher books, "I don't think different media van converge". Each medium has unique properties that enable a story to be told in a certain way that may not be reproducible in another medium.
Take Dark Souls for example. The game's story and mythology are blended with the game world, hidden in little details and item descriptions. If you take its bits and pieces and assemble them linearly, it's nothing special, it could never serve as the plot for a good movie. However, if you experience it properly, by being immersed in the game world, it gets way better.
When i think about Mass Effect, what comes to mind are these long sequences in the Citadel where you do nothing more than talk, learning about the biology, technology qnd geopolitics of the game's universe. I don't think this kind of content would fit a blockbuster movie, and without it what remains is a bunch of space marines shooting aliens.
This will sound obvious, but this problem is not restricted to web development. Java applications are often plagued by transitive dependencies too. I had to deal with unwanted libraries breaking WebLogic deployments more often than i'd like, up to the point of having to disable transient configurations for some apps and force explicit declaration of each dependency.
If the user was not aware its location was being uploaded, then yes, it is Strava's fault. They should not be using your data, on the assumption that it is not sensitive, without explicit consent (preferably opt-in).
They are only following the "industry standard" though. I bet the military would be surprised on how much location data leaks to Google location history, the only difference being it is not publicly available (yet).
I understand the the benefits of using a fully managed platform like GAE, but wonder if it would be the right choice for most scenarios. Personally, I would prototype with GAE, but go into production with GKE, under the impression that the application would be a little more decoupled from the platform.