with the rapid iteration speed of tools like claude, i really think right now we are either in the prelude or beginning of the second renaissance. in other words, we are in the post industrial revolution era, where execution barrier is severely lowered, and would continue to experience so as more advanced tooling systems become publicized.
It would be the end of a mediocre specialist because someone waiting for an idea to execute on will never be able to match someone with the equivalent levels of their skill because of the available tooling at their disposal, with much better imagination.
there are two caveats however. one is that tooling doesnt solve everything and the safe estimate is it could only be as good as a higher-end specialist, not the deep specialists. that's why we see every first waves of recruiting process of modern startups want highly capable engineers to synergize with the available tooling. with the right candidate found, would bring exponentially more results than a mediocre specialist, or a generalist polymath.
the polymath, however, cannot just think. although that might be this person's greatest natural asset, they must develop grit. and grit would be the greatest differentiator between a polymath and a polymath who would rule the future of humanity. any generalists who have no drive to learn and acquire deep domain knowledge is just a thinker. and a thinker is no more valuable than an average person. i've been in enough ubers to know how many "polymaths" there are who generate shit ideas because they never graduated from high school and/or college.
domain expertise is required for generalist, and that will only originate from grit. curiosity is given, grit requires discipline.
a generalist who is not shallow and is almost world class at specific domains paired with actual super-specialists will generate the most value for the next few decades. and they will move the fastest too.
we are already moving from an economy of "i know how to do this" to an economy of "i can figure out how to do absolutely anything if i care enough to want to."
the mediocre specialists who fear such a change will be replaced. the imaginative people who lacks grit will be replaced as well. world class specialists and generalists might die as well due to sheer concentration, but at least they would have a chance. their rate of survival would only increase significantly if they work together (premise is that they dont screw each other up).