Let's Bring The Polymath -- and the Dabblers -- Back

I noticed recently that books with the phrase "The Last Man Who Knew Everything" all share in common that their subjects lived during the period close to the Scientific Revolution, roughly between 1550 to 1700. The Scientific Revolution killed our ability to Know Everything. It's as if the Scientific Revolution -- and the knowledge it spawned -- killed the ability to Know Everything. Before then, it was not only possible to be a generalist or polymath (someone with a wide range of expertise) -- but the weaving together of different disciplines was actually rather unexceptional. The Ancients discussed topics such as ethics, biology, and metaphysics alongside each other.