I thought people in SV are paid what they're paid because they're uniquely qualified and productive, making their employers extremely profitable, or salable. Is that no longer true when they don't sit in a SV chair?
It’s funny: I don’t know where people get the idea that people are paid based on the value they produce. People are paid based on the amount they command in the labor market, and labor markets are local (and if they produce less value than they command, there’s no hire). It works like nearly every other economic transaction. Engineers cost more in the valley because there is far more competition to hire them, not because they are unilaterally better or more qualified. (Not to say there isn’t a lot of great talent in the valley, but I’m sure there’s lots of talent outside the valley as well.)
I’m not sure if your comment was sarcastic or not, but this is an extremely common misunderstanding. It often comes up when people discuss CEO salaries (“do they really work YYY times harder than entry level staff?”, as if people are paid based on how hard they work).