First of all, a clarification:
Players such as Tom Dwan or Gus Hansen are NOT maniacs. They are very good loose aggressive players. Their aggressiveness is very selective for interesting spots and they don't just gamble when they KNOW the odds are against them in general (few exceptions of course).
Playing well like that requires very good understanding of marginal situations. Even Gus Hansen said that a beginner should begin tight and open up his range gradually as he gets used to new situations.
Unselective aggression with no logic behind it other than wanting to gamble and/or win the nits' money leads to being a maniac (as opposed to a good LAG player).
And while being a nit is not good, even nits have a positive EV over maniacs in the long run if the maniac is not selective enough.
Also, the way you talk about your style make it seem like many of the players you call nits are actually just normal TAG players. your EV against them is ----- until you get a better handle on marginal situations.
Basically - learn the basics FIRST. Understand the game!
become a winning player.
THEN, and only then, will you even have the right to talk about a new generation of winning players... until then, you'll be losing most of the time