Precisely. And while I see some cases for that where e. g. people with means like to ride the same bike as a TdF winner (just like most people who own a Porsche GT3 RS never go near a track and don’t know enough to drive it “properly”), the end result is detrimental for the people.
That’s one thing Walter Röhrl remarked when he started working with Porsche on their high-end road cars: if they set it up as they would for experienced drivers who drive their GT3 on the track, they’d likely kill a lot of drivers in the process.
Not really, at for the speeds I travel at on the flats. On my previous bike, I was typically in 50:15–50:12 at speeds between 36–50 km/h. On my new one (SRAM eTap AXS 1x) I’m on 42:15–42:10, which is at the top end of the cassette. (My self-selected cadence at speed is 95–105 rpm.)
Compare my old setup, Shimano Ultegra/105 drivetrain with SRAM 11-32 cassette with the 11-34 cassette, for me the relevant speeds for the flats lie in the gappy part of the 11-34 cassette.
I don’t think it is that, IMHO they have designed themselves into a corner and the 11-34 cassette is a result of limited rear derailleur capacity. SRAM’s Force 1 derailleurs can take up to 42-teeth cogs, eTap AXS Wide rear derailleurs can do 36.
Ultimately, I think Shimano is getting into serious trouble now with their rigid line-up. Shimano drive trains are by-and-large reliable, yes, but in my observation they have never initiated new trends that helped make biking better and just reacted. Shimano is super conservative and they have been missing trends left and right, e. g. 1x on MTB and road, >11 speeds, wireless groupsets, Bluetooth, larger range cassettes. I think 10-36 cassettes as the new normal are a great development, because they either make 1x a reality for sporty riders or give riders a boat load of range when they opt for 2x. In fact, I’d like to see more range for e. g. gravel. Oh, and another cog, please, 13 or 14 would be nice, thank you very much! 
Just compare that with SRAM’s eTap story: all components are completely compatible. Let’s say you want to build a gravel/do-it-all bike. Depending on your taste, you can use a road 1x crank and a MTB rear derailleur and cassette with drop bars. You can choose any 1x chain ring size you want, essentially. For smaller chain rings, you need to use a mountain bike crank, obviously. But SRAM has those, too. Or you could go for a gravel 2x crank with 10–36 cassette. It is purely a matter of personal taste. I guess you could also go for flat bars. What if this is more of a road-focussed bike, what groupset do you have to choose? The same.
Compare that with Shimano’s story: it is fragmented, and it tries to segment off parts of its market. With GRX you have much more limited options. Even the GRX 2x derailleur does not have more capacity and a dedicated cassette.
Perhaps, although I’d say that everything is in short supply at the moment. I had to wait >4 months for my bike. I got the only Force 1x 165 mm crank in Japan according to my LBS. I originally wanted to go Red, but then the wait would have increased to half a year. Crazy times.
I don’t think that is correct: Shimano has no official 1x story for the road. Nada. They do have GRX 1x, but that is meant for mountain bike 11-speed cassettes and the chain ring options are limited. Or, of course, you can just get a non-Shimano crank (e. g. by Rotor) or use your Shimano crank with a Wolftooth chain ring. Ditto for smaller chain ring sizes: for road components, the smallest is a CX crank, although that won’t give you smaller climbing gear. You could mix and match, but then you have to pick parts from different groupset lines that weren’t designed to work optimally together. You can use MTB Di2 components with 1x and create a mullet setup similar to SRAM, but that isn’t officially sanctioned and at least if you want to stick to 100 % Shimano you are limited by the few 1x chain ring choices GRX has.
To add to the confusion, they have road rear derailleurs with and without clutch. I don’t think I have seen the clutched ones in the wild yet, though, and I don’t remember seeing a bike specced with them. (Although I am sure they exist.)
Compare that with SRAM’s story where every imaginable combination is officially supported. The only downside is that mullet setups are still very pricey since they haven’t released GX Eagle eTap AXS yet. But I reckon that will come in due time.