Depends on the problem. If the general human consensus believes the sun revolves around the earth, you're going to have a hard time working with multiple minds. Problems which require radical shifts in ideology are more than likely going to be tackled alone. It would come down to the maximum power principle. You would waste a significant amount of energy pulling someone psychologically one step in your direction, whereas independently, you could be three steps closer to proving your thesis. Not to mention, social cohesion, or whatever you want to call it, encourages group think and naturally ostracises outsiders as a primitive form of bonding or fitting in with one another.
Really hard problems fight monocultures of 'obvious truth' in the bonds of multiple minds.
> Long term, it is the most economically sustainable business from the perspective of the business owner
That's true, but not for the reasons stated. Once the population bubble bursts, the majority of human beings will become farmers if they want to survive. The negative stigma associated with farming for a living will quickly evaporate.
According to historian Dr. Joseph Tainter's book 'The Collapse of Complex Societies', if you exclude isolated groups such as tribes, there have been 23 distinct civilizations throughout the course of human history and 22 have failed. Hypercomplexity and specialization tend to be common characteristics, as well as, misuse of resources.