This is one of my favourite comparisons: polymathy is cognitive biodiversity.

Monoculture farming depletes soil, invites disease, collapses under pressure. One blight, one drought and the whole field dies.

Why do we accept the same fragility in how we think?

The specialist mind is similar to a monoculture. Trained to the depth in one domain and optimized for known conditions. When the paradigm breaks, it can only do what it has always done.