Take Andrej Karpathy as an example. Even if I knew exactly what tools he uses and what his workflow looks like, I still would not be able to produce anything close to what he can produce in a few weeks. And he is not standing still either—he is evolving at the same time.
A lot of real expertise is not in the visible/system-able workflow. It is in someone’s experience, taste, judgment, and wisdom. You can copy the artifact, but you cannot easily copy the thinking behind it: the principles, the decision-making, and the ability to apply those principles across many different/subtle situations.
But I do agree with the concern behind the argument. People may worry that sharing what they know could weaken their own position. And the more uncomfortable question is about peers: if someone’s role can be “retired” because others absorbed their knowledge and skills, then it is hard not to ask, “Am I next?”