This is akin to the way - on topic - computer games have developed; in the early days almost all games were made by individuals. Now it is all studios and teamwork, very rarely does an individual still manage to break out of the mold and the level of expectation that we've set. But when it does happen (Minecraft, for instance) it can be a runaway success.
Anyway, I wish John the very best but I think the chances of an Armadillo repeat are somewhat higher than of him coming out of his closet with a working AGI, and just in case he does I'm not sure the rest of the world is going to be ready for that (entirely different discussion, there are plenty of SF books and movies exploring that theme).
This seems like one of those seemingly-obvious points that everyone believes but has a decent chance of being proved completely wrong by an unexpected discovery or breakthrough. Assuming I understand you correctly; knowing which giants to stand on has consistently proven to be a requirement - both in science and engineering.
But I see you're sort of alluding to this at the end of your comment, where you're not dismissing this effort as meaningless, but rather not a guaranteed success.
But yea, I agree with your general point. I'd just note that having that ability to be insanely productive in working on things people haven't done before means to me that if it's possible for someone like him to really get good at this field, he's probably gunna do it.
Who knows how far you can get with just "putting stuff together." That's what Edison did.