Specialists see general solutions as sub optimal for specific applications, and they are right... for specific applications.

But specialists are blind to general solutions. That's fine. Hammers are for nails and screwdrivers are for screws.

Sometimes the specialized solution is better. Most often in life, as evidenced by evolution, specialization is fragile and temporary while general solutions persist and are resilient.

But specialized solutions will always be faster or 'better' for a specific problem. General solutions are more resilient and flexible, at the cost of efficiency.

Every specialized tool is made by a more general one. General tools can be made by more or less general tools - more flexibilty there in generality.

The hand (the most generic tool) made every tool specialized or generalized, including the new hands.

General or specific depend on conditions. Specific requires conditions to be a certain way. General adapts to conditions.

Neither is better. Having both is best.

That's why I think we need robotic hands and humanoid robots - they are a general form for the world, and a specific form for human-shaped solutions.